


Here for You

by starringseptiplier



Category: Septiplier - Fandom, Youtube RPF, jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alcohol warning, Big/Little, Crying Jack, Cuddling, Drunk Jack, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, More To Add Later, Non-Sexual Age Play, Omorashi, Pacifiers, Regression, Teddy Bears, all those cute things, kind of, little! jack, mark being so great to jack honestly, patient mark, security blankets, sort of mentioned, vomit warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-07-29 16:33:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7691728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starringseptiplier/pseuds/starringseptiplier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack really thought he could handle going all the way to Playlist Live, but an accident begins to show him otherwise. Luckily, Mark is unendingly patient with him and maybe, just maybe, Jack will be okay. If he would just stop being so damn stubborn, of course. </p><p>{{contains non-sexual age-play}}</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I am new to this fandom and I haven't seen too much of this around, so I hope if this is something you enjoy, that you like this story. Please let me know what you think and if there's anything you'd like to see in upcoming chapters, let me know!

Mark was so excited. It was finally that time of year where there were a lot of meetups for content creators and fans, and that meant that Mark got to see lots of friends he didn’t see very often. People like Felix, Wade, and Bob were there and that was great. Mark loved catching up with them, but Mark was also incredibly excited because for the first time in a while, Jack was coming to the convention as well. So currently everyone was in Miami at Playlist Live, and Jack and Mark were in the process of trying to find Mark’s rental car. Since Jack and Mark had decided to cut costs and share a hotel room, it just made sense for the two of them to share a car as well. “Is it over this way?” Jack wondered.

“I don’t know. We got here so early this morning, good lord,” Mark sighed, shaking his head. He was just about to suggest setting off the car alarm when a car came from out of nowhere, screeching up beside the two tired video-makers. Before either man could react, the window rolled down and revealed that the car seemed to be filled to the brim with girls who had voices loud enough to rival Jack’s.

The whole incident was unsettling enough, but then one of the girls reached out to grab Jack’s hand. Jack had complied, smiling and laughing as he greeted them. Mark was a bit more hesitant, but was happy to say hi nonetheless.

But something went wrong. Maybe the person driving panicked, or maybe they accidentally pressed the gas when trying to turn around in their seat. But whatever it was that happened, one moment the car was stationary and Jack was happily shaking hands and high-fiving with everyone in the car, and then the next the car was gunning forward, Jack losing his balance and stumbling with the vehicle.

The car only traveled a few feet before the driver realized what had happened and stopped, but by then Jack had lost his balance and had been dragged alongside the car from about ten feet. “Holy shit!” Mark gasped, running over to them and helping Jack stand. Instead of standing though, Jack waved Mark away and sank to a sitting position. “Are you okay? What the fuck were you _thinking_?!” the second statement was directed at the driver of the car, who stammered nervously before pressing on the gas and jetting away, tires squealing as they disappeared. Mark tried to read the license plate, but it was in vain as by the time his mind registered the idea, the car was too far away to make out the sequence.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked Jack, who was still crumpled on the pavement, trying to breathe as deeply as possible.

“Yeah.” But Mark wasn’t convinced, especially since Jack was still staring off in the distance as if he was in a daze, not really sure of what was going on around him.

“Okay, do you want to just sit a moment?” Mark wondered, and after a few moments of hesitation, Jack nodded. Mark carefully sat down on the pavement across from Jack, resting his arms on his knees. He wanted to ask if Jack was hurt, but decided that could wait until after Jack had come back to his senses.

Mark let them sit on the pavement for about ten minutes, long after Jack’s breathing slowed and his limbs stopped shaking. Then he began to quietly call Jack’s name, but the man didn’t seem to be paying him any mind. “Jack!” Mark waved his hands in front of Jack’s face.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Mark’s voice broke through the fog in Jack’s mind, and the bright-blue eyed boy blinked heavily before nodding. “You’re positive?” he questioned. “That was… a lot.”

“I’m fine,” Jack insisted, rubbing at his eyes in exasperation. “Can we just get back to the hotel, please?”

“Sure,” Mark nodded, reaching an arm out to help Jack up. Jack allowed for that, but then when Mark tried to protectively place his hand on his friend’s shoulder, Jack just flinched away. Mark didn’t say anything though, just kept walking, leading Jack toward the rental car.

Mark searched his pockets for the key fob, clicking the doors unlocked as they approached the gray car. “You want to grab some dinner on the way back to the hotel?” Mark wondered.

“Sure,” Jack whispered, whining a bit under his throat as his shaky hand didn’t allow the seatbelt to click into its groove.

“Hey, hey, you sure you’re okay?” Mark asked in concern, turning a bit in his seat to look at his friend. Jack looked okay, if just a bit pale…but then again, Jack was Irish.

“I’m fine,” Jack insisted sharply, finally making the seatbelt fall into place. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

“Restaurant or takeout?” Mark wondered.

“Takeout,” Jack said immediately. “I really am not in the mood to just be out and about.”

“Understood one hundred percent,” Mark nodded before starting the car. “Let’s go then.” Once Mark was distracted with driving, Jack turned to look out the window, trying to keep himself calm. He felt so shaken by what had happened outside, and Jack wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and cry. _You’re not home_ , he told himself. _You can’t do this now._

Feeling like the world was closing in on him, Jack stared at the window and begged his conscious to stay Big. _Don’t cry_ , he told himself. _Just stay Big. You can’t go Little now. Not with Mark here. Not until you’re home. Home. I wanna go home._ Jack just wanted to be home, in Ireland, far away from everyone. Where he could not worry about Mark or anyone seeing him curled up in bed with his stuffie hugged to his chest and cartoons on in the background. He wanted to be home where he had a box of Legos under his bed where he could sit and connect them for hours until the ball of stress in his stomach dissolved.

For Jack, this had started way back in secondary school. He’d come home from school one day panicked, not able to suck enough air into his lungs, and he hadn’t been able to calm down until his mom hugged him close and shushed him gently while running her hands through his hair.

The panic attacks continued for quite some time, and it wasn’t until Jack had done a late-night Internet search out of desperation that he realized that Littles existed.  It wasn’t unheard of, and Jack was relieved to find that he wasn’t the only person in the world comforted by blankets, toys, and stuffed animals. Giving himself time to retreat into this fantasy world without exams, responsibilities, and stress gave Jack his life back. He felt so much better, and so his Little side made an appearance every once in a while still, but only ever in the privacy of his home where he knew he wouldn’t be interrupted.

 _You’re just going to have to deal_ , Jack told himself angrily, bringing his thumb to his mouth before realizing what he had done and chewing his nail instead of sticking his whole thumb in his mouth like he wanted.

It took a while for Mark to decide on somewhere to eat – because honestly, Jack was being no help – but once they finally made their way through a drive-thru and back to the hotel, Mark was super concerned about Jack. The duo silently made their way to the room, Jack following behind Mark. “Netflix?” Mark offered, and Jack nodded.

“Sure. You’ve watched _Stranger Things_ yet?” Jack asked quietly.

“No, have you?”

“A few episodes. Here, I can pull it up,” Jack sat on Mark’s bed and opened his laptop, gesturing for Mark to come sit beside him. The two of them got quiet after that, watching the show and munching away on their food.

Jack ate until he was full and then pushed away his trash, curling up a bit and leaning back to get more comfortable. When he brought his legs up so that he could stretch them out, he frowned at the stabbing pain in his leg. Ever since his fall, Jack’s leg had throbbed and ached, but this was different and made him gasp. “Dude, are you alright?” Mark frowned through his last bite of cheeseburger, and Jack winced as he began to roll the leg of his pants up to reveal a deep scrape up the side of his left leg. “Oh my god!” Mark gasped, and Jack squeezed his eyes shut and looked away.

“Oh that’s nasty,” Jack whimpered.

“You need to get that cleaned up,” Mark insisted, already moving to stand. “Here, let’s get you into the bathroom. Oh my fuck, Jack, how did we not notice this? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I-I didn’t th-think it was that bad,” Jack stammered, keeping his eyes covered. “Oh god, I hate blood.”

“Here, let me help,” Mark insisted, already helping Jack stand. “Shit dude, can you walk?”

“I can walk,” Jack nodded, wiping at teary eyes as he tried to push Mark away. “I can take care of this, it’s okay.” Jack gnawed at his lip nervously.

“No come on, please, let me help,” Mark insisted, and Jack shrugged while curling in on himself, already feeling small and struggling to keep himself from slipping into his Little mindset. Honestly, Jack didn’t know if he could clean up his leg. Blood, real blood at least, had always made him squeamish.

“Okay,” Jack’s voice wavered as he flipped on the bathroom light. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Get up here,” Mark suggested, patting the counter. Jack brought his hands to the granite and jumped, sitting on the edge of the makeshift bench. “Can you roll up your pants?” the red-haired man asked. Jack nodded and did so, but realized that he could only roll them up so far, and there was still scratched skin beneath the fabric.

“I’m going to have to take them off,” Jack commented, cheeks tinging dark red. “There’s more cut than I can show like this.”

“Oh, okay,” Mark shrugged, seeming unfazed. “Want help getting down?” he wondered. Jack nodded and Mark held his hands out to make sure that Jack didn’t jump too far forward as he slid to a standing position.

Figuring that quick equaled painless, Jack let his pants drop to his ankles, then kicked them off before jumping back onto the counter. Finally seeing the full extent of the cut, both men let out gasps of pain. “Oh, Jack, Jesus, man.”

Jack didn’t answer, currently too busy staring at the ceiling and biting his lip and keeping his eyes squeezed shut to keep tears at bay. “Okay, I’m just gonna wash it out, okay?” Mark said gently.

“Alright,” Jack reached out and grabbed the box of Kleenex from a few feet away, using one to press into his eyes while he tried not to look at the small triage center Mark was setting up. For a few minutes, the room was quiet save for Mark occasionally turning on the sink and rinsing out the washcloths.

After one particularly deep area of the cut had a washcloth pressed up against it, Jack let out an involuntary yelp before tossing his head back and groaning while biting his lip to keep from making more noise.

“Sorry,” Mark winced. Jack didn’t answer, at least not at first. After a second, Mark realized that was because Jack was crying. Mark looked up at the sniffling man perched on the edge of the counter. “Jack?”

“I’m okay,” Jack whimpered, voice high-pitched and his hands were covering his face. “It just hurts.” Something about the way Jack was acting seemed a bit off to Mark, but he didn’t pay it any mind.

“Alright, I’m almost done. I just need to get another washcloth. One more round of cleaning and we’ll be good. Alright, buddy?”

“Okay,” Jack whispered. He felt so vulnerable sitting there, pantsless and his blue eyes leaking tears he couldn’t stop, that Jack felt himself slipping. As much as he didn’t want to, Jack found himself tugging sadly at the hem of his shirt and biting his lip nervously. If Mark would just hurry up and finish cleaning the wound like he’d insisted, Jack could climb into bed and go to sleep before Mark realized his friend was acting so strangely.

Mark walked back into the bathroom and frowned at the sight of Jack’s shoulders shaking. “Oh, Jack. Hey, it’s okay,” Mark frowned, immediately stepping closer and moving to place a hand on Jack’s shoulder.

To his surprise, Jack didn’t push him away, or even simply accept the comfort. Instead, Jack’s body wracked with a large sob and he leaned forward to collapse against Mark sadly. “Whoa, whoa, Jack, hey,” Mark frowned, his large arms instinctively wrapping around Jack to keep them both from toppling over. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry!” Jack babbled. “I’m so sorry!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re still freaked out, aren’t you?” Mark wondered, keeping Jack close to his chest. Tufts of bright-green hair tickled Mark’s chin as Jack nodded. “Yeah, come on, let’s get you into bed and that leg stretched out.”

“Okay,” Jack whispered. He squeaked as he felt Mark not pull him off the counter to stand, but instead lift him into Mark’s arms more securely. “What are you doing?” Jack whispered.

“Putting you to bed. I don’t want you walking on that leg more than you have to,” Mark explained, settling Jack on the bed closest to the window that was still covered with all of Jack’s bags from that morning where he’d been in a rush to get ready. “Do you want pajamas? Or you good like that?” Mark wondered, beginning to shove some of Jack’s clothes into the bag before he pushed them off the bed.

“Uh,” Jack whimpered, then shrugged. “Dunno,” his voice was still so small. Mark smiled and pulled the pair of red plaid pajama pants from the top of the pile of clothes.

“Okay, well I’m going to leave these on the bedside table, and if you decide you want to put them on during the night, you can, alright?” Mark felt like he was treating Jack differently than normal, but Jack was acting differently. Like he was less capable of doing everything he normally could.

“Thank you, Mark,” Jack’s quiet voice spoke up. When Mark turned to look at him, Jack had burrowed down beneath the covers and all Mark could see was vibrant hair and shining blue eyes.

“You’re welcome, Jack,” Mark murmured, heading back toward the bathroom to clean up from his First Aid escapade. By the time Mark had gathered all the washcloths and bloody Kleenex from around the room, he was so exhausted.

A quick shower ensued after that and then Mark was ready to crash. Jack was fast asleep in the bed when Mark headed back into the main room of their shared space, and Mark smiled at the sight of Jack curled up with his hands brought up close to his face, clutching the blanket tightly.

As Mark drifted off to sleep, he wondered what tomorrow would bring for the two of them. He wondered if Jack would feel better, and if not, Mark wanted to know what he could do to make his friend feel better. Something about the way Jack was acting tonight made Mark feel protective of the smaller boy, like he needed to be shielded from incidents like earlier this evening.

And maybe Mark wasn’t wrong about that.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning dawned early, and found Mark having not slept well, too worried about Jack. Jack, on the other hand, had slept deeply and was reluctant to wake up. So Mark let him sleep as long as possible, taking a hot shower and getting dressed before trying again to make Jack wake up. When the Irish man finally sat up, Mark gave him a gentle smile.

“Hey, bud, how are you feeling?” he wondered.

“Uh,” Jack shrugged, unsure of what exactly to say. He still felt shaken from the night before, his leg was killing him, and he could tell that he was still barely clinging to being Big. “Uhm…”

“Listen, if you’re not feeling up to today, I’m sure everyone will understand,” Mark said gently, coming to sit on the edge of Jack’s bed.

Jack shrugged stared at the blanket pooled around his waist. “I…don’t know. I want to go, I just…I don’t…I can’t…”

“Hey, Jack, breathing,” Mark commented gently. “Do it.” Jack rubbed his eyes sadly as his shoulders moved up and down while he struggled to take in breaths. “Jack, come on, is there something I can do to help?”

Jack shook his head immediately, and made to stand. “I’m fine,” he insisted. “Let’s get ready.” Mark watched Jack limp across the room toward his suitcase, and the red-haired man winced.

“That cut still looks pretty bad,” he commented as he stood. “I’m going to go run down to the front and buy a bandage for it, okay?”

“Okay,” Jack mumbled, busy rummaging through his suitcase. “Thanks.” His hand was resting on top of something that rested beneath all his clothes, but it wasn’t until Mark left the room that he pulled the stuffed bear from his bag and hugged it, burying his face in the worn fur. That was how he stayed for a few minutes, until his heart seemed to slow and Jack no longer felt like he was about to cry every time he blinked.

His grip on the bear switched only after Jack became afraid Mark would return, and now the bear was squeezed in his left arm while he grabbed a pair of jeans and some clean boxers. Giving one last tight hug to the bear, Jack regretfully covered the toy with all of his clothes and stood, wincing while he put weight on his leg.

Just as Jack had decided to head toward the bathroom, the door opened and Mark entered with a small bag bearing the hotel’s name. “Okay,” he said, closing the door and walking closer to Jack. “I got a bandage, some antibiotic cream, and some Tylenol. I didn’t know if it was hurting still.”

“T-thanks,” Jack whispered. He reached out to take the bag and then paused, looking to Mark. “Would…can…if you don’t mind…I don’t know if I…” Jack stumbled over his words, not one hundred percent sure what he was trying to say.

Lucky for him, Mark understood. “Yeah, sure, of course. Come on,” Mark nodded toward the bathroom and let Jack lead the way. As Jack pulled himself onto the counter again, Mark cleared his throat. “So, are you sure you want to do all this stuff today?”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded, though Mark still wasn’t convinced. Mark nodded as he took a Kleenex to spread some of the cream on Jack’s leg. “Uh, thanks…for doing this,” Jack’s voice was quiet and Mark smiled up at him.

“No problem. I’d say you’d do the same but considering I’m doing this because you hate blood, I don’t think you’d do this for me,” Mark laughed as he reached for the bandage to wrap it up Jack’s leg.

“You’re right about that,” Jack laughed. “But honestly, thank you.”

“Sure. And listen, if you need something today, just let me know,” Mark mentioned, still feeling like Jack was acting the slightest bit off.

“Thanks,” Jack smiled, jumping down off the counter once Mark deemed his leg wrapped. “I should be okay.”

“Well, just in case then,” Mark shrugged. “I’ll let you get ready,” he stated, stepping out of the bathroom. Taking a look at his watch, Jack cursed under his breath and moved to brush his teeth.

Before too long had passed, both boys were ready to head to the convention center. “What’s your schedule today?” Jack asked Mark. Mark made a face and then shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure it’s meet and greet until noon, then we have our panel with Bob, Wade, and Felix.” Though Mark sounded unsure, Jack nodded.

“I know that’s my schedule, so yours is probably the same.” The smaller man was a little nervous for the day, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. He knew part of it was from what had happened in the parking lot the day before, and he assumed some if it was also due to the fact that Jack still felt so close to slipping still. If he was afraid of being Little in front of Mark, the idea of the fans seeing him this way made Jack feel almost physically ill.

Jack didn’t realize that the thought had made his breath ragged and panicked until Mark reached over and placed a hand on Jack’s arm. “Hey, are you okay? Jack, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Jack shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “I just…” he shrugged, not sure what to say. What could he say? Nothing that wouldn’t worry Mark or make him think Jack was weird.

“It’s not too late to go back to the hotel,” Mark said gently, and Jack almost said yes. He almost curled up in his seat to cry the stress away. He almost told Mark to take him somewhere that he could get a box of Legos and a few coloring books.

Almost.

“No, I’m fine. Just a little shaken from yesterday still, I think,” Jack explained, gesturing to the parking lot as they approached. “I’ll be golden as long as we don’t stop to talk to people in cars,” he laughed, trying to make a joke of it. Maybe then he’d be okay.

“Alright,” Mark sighed. “Listen, Jack. If you decide at some point that you want to head back, you can just let me know. I…I won’t be mad or upset or anything. I just want to make sure you’re alright. Yesterday was…dude,” Mark shrugged. “That shit was scary and if I’m still freaked out, I can’t even imagine what’s going on in that head of yours,” he reached out and poked Jack’s forehead.

Jack let out a tiny giggle before he realized what he’d done, then he bit his lip to shut himself up. “Thanks, Mark, really,” he replied before jumping out of the car. “Now, we’ve got people to meet.”

“And greet,” Mark chirped as they made their way inside. It didn’t take but a moment for the two to get swept up in the action around them, and before he knew it, Jack was on his own. Mark was nowhere to be seen. Taking a deep breath, Jack continued on his way to the booth he was being pointed toward, hoping he could just make it through today.

For two hours straight, Jack met with fans, took pictures, gave hugs. He almost forgot about what happened unless someone had brushed up against his leg, and even then Jack was doing a pretty good job of staying in his element and talking to fans. This time passed quickly, and before Jack had realized that two hours had passed, he was being whisked away to the main stage so he could be a part of a panel discussion.

As Jack made his way onto the stage for the panel, he realized he'd probably made a huge mistake. While before Jack had been in a room with just a couple of fans at a time, monitored by security, now he was walking into a room filled to the brim with people. The Irishman couldn't breathe, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the room. People screaming, cheering, clapping - for him, _at_ him, nonetheless. _This was a mistake_ , he thought. _I should've stayed in the hotel. Mark was right._

_Mark._

 

Where was Mark? He was supposed to be there too. Jack waved out at the audience and made his way toward the couch where Bob and Felix already sat. "Jackaboy!" Felix exclaimed dramatically.

 

"Hey," Jack laughed, trying to appear as normal as possible as he plopped down beside Bob, leaving a spot for Mark.

 

Or Wade, really. But hopefully Mark. The man with the glasses had an undeniable calming effect on Jack, the boy realized, but he wasn't in any position currently to fight it. He just wanted to make it through this panel. "Jack?!" A voice broke through his thoughts and Jack looked around, finally placing that it was Bob's voice, and the man was staring at him strangely. "Earth to Jack? You with us?"

 

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't get my coffee this morning," Jack laughed. "What's going on?"

 

"I was asking you if you're glad to be back in the States," Bob laughed.

 

Jack nodded quickly as he brought the microphone to his mouth. "Yeah, I am. It's been super great to -"

 

"Hey everybody! My name is Markiplier," suddenly Mark appeared from the side of the stage, waving while speaking into the microphone. "Sorry I'm late!" Right behind Mark came Wade, and the two of them settled onto the couch, Mark beside Jack.

 

"Always having to make an entrance," Felix teased. "Jack was speaking and you just interrupted him," the blonde made a disapproving noise.

 

"Yeah, Mark!" Jack huffed playfully. "Jesus, man, the disrespect." Mark dramatically hugged Jack, and over all the squeals from the audience, Jack heard Mark whispering.

 

"How you doing?"

 

"Okay," Jack replied just as quietly, then quickly pulled away. "Think you can hug me and make it all better," he smirked into the microphone. Mark smiled and kept his arm tossed over the back of the couch, touching Jack's neck.

 

It was undeniably comforting, so Jack didn't say anything. After a few more minutes of banter between the five artists, they jumped into the meat of the panel, talking about how they made their videos and how they kept from burning out.

 

About forty-five minutes into the panel, Mark came to the sudden realization that Jack had been quiet for a large amount of time. He took a second to glance over at the green-haired man, frowning at the uncomfortable look on Jack's face. It was kind of hard to detect, but Mark saw it.

 

"Are you alright?" He murmured, leaning close to Jack so they could speak away from the microphones.

 

Jack just shook his head, running his teeth over his bottom lip worriedly. "What's wrong?" Mark furrowed his own eyebrows, growing concerned as Jack's only answer was another shake of the head.

 

"Drop it," Jack whispered before picking up his mic again to throw himself into the conversation. Mark wanted to ask what was wrong but didn’t want to upset Jack, so he just elected to continue to keep a protective eye on his friend.

Jack was already embarrassed enough to even _be_ in this predicament, and when Mark took notice, it just flustered him even more. It had been a long morning for Jack with no breaks, and nearly three hours into the day, Jack had already finished something like four water bottles. Had he thought about the fact that he wouldn’t have very many chances to disappear to the toilets today, he probably would’ve limited the amount he was drinking. But Jack hadn’t realized this until it was too late, and now he was destined to be uncomfortable for the rest of the panel. There was no way in hell he was telling a room full of people he needed to disappear for a wee. He’d be fine. Right?

After ten minutes or so, Mark was more concerned than ever before. Jack still looked just as uncomfortable and now couldn’t sit still, instead squirming around on the couch like he couldn’t find the right position on the couch. “Jack,” Mark whispered again, turning a bit so they were looking at each other. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I…” Jack blushed again. Mark waited patiently for him to keep talking. “I just need to get out of here.”

“Uh, okay,” Mark nodded understandingly. “I can cover for you.” Jack nodded and looked like he was going to stand, but then he didn’t. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Jack whispered. “It’s dumb.”

“It’s not dumb,” Mark promised. “Just tell me.”

“I…I don’t want to go off on my own,” Jack mumbled, looking away as his cheeks turned even more red than before. Mark opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted before he could get the words out.

“Dude, are you guys sharing secrets over there?” Felix scoffed, and both men looked up, eyes wide.

“They so are. They look guilty,” Wade laughed. “That’s not fair! Tell us!”

“We were talking about getting our own panel because you guys are putting the audience to sleep,” Jack retorted. The man swallowed thickly and struggled to maintain his composure now that he was the center of attention, but it was hard. All of Jack’s bravado had been used on his sarcastic statement, and he was now just looking between his friends uselessly.

Mark couldn’t stand the fact that he knew something – though he didn’t know what exactly – was wrong with Jack, and that Jack wasn’t willing to do anything about it alone. He had a feeling it had to do with Jack being unsettled from the occurrence yesterday, but Mark knew he couldn’t get to the bottom of it while they’re on stage.

“If you don’t mind, we’re going to go plan our own panel!” Mark laughed into the microphone before jumping up and grabbing Jack’s arm. “Let’s go, Jackie-boy. We’ve got a kickass panel to make up!” Jack just stumbled along behind Mark as the red-haired man made a big show of walking them offstage dramatically despite the other’s comments and pleas to bring them back.

Once behind the stage set-up, away from the fans and cameras, Mark looked Jack over in concern. “Okay, tell me what’s going on, Jack?” Jack dropped his chin to his chest and mumbled something, and Mark had to lean down to get closer. “What?”

“There’s just…a lot going on right now,” Jack frowned, shifting his weight back and forth from one leg to the other. “I just needed to go wash my face and stuff but I…” he trailed off. “I don’t want to get cornered by a lot of fans by myself.”

“Yeah, of course,” Mark nodded in understanding. “I can…I can find a security guy or someone to go with you if you want to disappear for a minute,” he offered.

“Can…can you come with me?” Jack asked before he could stop himself. Mark looked confused for a split second, but then the look softened and the man just nodded.

“Sure, sure, yeah,” Mark turned on his heel to survey the backstage area, taking a few steps toward the back of the room, where a security employee opened the door that allowed the guests walk through the venue without running into the common area where fans mingled. Mark slowed down and waited for Jack to catch up, then quietly moved so that there was room for them to walk side by side.

“Thanks, Mark, for all this,” Jack mentioned quietly. “I know this is like, weird.”

“Not weird,” Mark said simply as they came upon the bathroom at the corner of the hallway. “I’ll wait out here,” he offered.

“Thanks,” Jack mumbled before hurrying through the door, leaving Mark alone with his thoughts. Jack was still acting strange – not overly so – but strange enough that Mark was still very concerned.

When Jack came back out from the restroom, he looked much more relaxed and as if he was calmer than before too. “You ready to go back to the panel?” Mark wondered. Jack nodded softly, though his hands twisted nervously in front of him. “It’s going to be okay,” Mark promised, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I’m right here with you.”

“Okay,” Jack nodded, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

~*~*~

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Mark. After he and Jack had made their way back to the panel, then to lunch after, but then they’d separated again for the rest of the afternoon. Mark didn’t get to see Jack until nearly six in the afternoon, where he met up with the Irishman at the entrance to the convention center. “You ready to go?” Mark chirped.

“Yeah.” Jack replied shortly, nodding while picking up his backpack from where it rest at his feet.

“You alright?” Mark asked slowly while they made the trek to the rental car once more.

“I really want to go back to the hotel, that’s all,” Jack mumbled, arms crossed over his chest. Mark frowned and looked at his feet, feeling a bit awkward at Jack’s strange behavior.

“Did something happen? Are you okay?” Mark was still very, very worried about his friend.

“Nothing happened,” Jack’s voice was wavering, and to his humiliation, it cracked on the last word. The green-haired boy stared straight ahead and sped up to approach the car, pulling on the door handle impatiently.

Mark unlocked the car and fell into the driver’s seat and shut the door before turning to look at Jack. “No more avoiding the question. You’ve got to tell me what’s wrong, Jack.”

“Nothing, damn it! Leave me alone!” Jack exploded, immediately feeling awful about his outburst.

“No. Jack, I am worried. Like, actually really worried,” Mark admitted, playing with the key in his hand.

“Please,” Jack whispered in defeat. “Please drop it and just take me back to the hotel,” the man’s hands were shaking and he felt like he was on the verge of a complete breakdown.

“Alright,” Mark agreed weakly, feeling like he was fighting a losing battle. He just started the car and headed toward the hotel, hoping that whatever it was that was bugging Jack would go away or fix itself.

Or that Jack would actually just tell him what was wrong. But the ride back to the hotel was silent, and even as the males entered their room, Jack still said nothing. “So, uh, is there anything I can do to help?” Mark asked helplessly.

“Help with what? I’m fine,” Jack lied. It was such a crap lie too that Mark couldn’t help but scoff at him.

“You’re not fine, and if you _really_ don’t want to tell me what’s bugging you, I’ll let it go. But for god’s sake, Jack, you don’t have to be miserable! I am _right here_ willing to help you, but in order for me to do that you have to use your words and tell me what’s wrong!” Mark stopped before he said anything else, spun on his heel, and stomped into the bathroom and shut the door hard behind him.

Jack stood stock still in the middle of the hotel room, frozen in his spot after being fussed at by his best friend. He felt like his breath was caught in his throat and tears just began to pour down his cheeks. This was just _too damn much_. “I’m sorry,” he croaked to the empty room.

Mark couldn’t hear his friend over the sounds of the sink running, and instead Mark just stared at his own reflection and tried to calm down. Realistically, he knew he shouldn’t be mad at Jack for whatever this was, but he couldn’t help but be frustrated that he didn’t know how to help.

The man spent a few minutes alone calming down, but then he realized that he couldn’t avoid Jack forever. So Mark turned off the sink and opened the bathroom door. As he stepped out, he swallowed thickly. “Hey, Jack, I’m sorry I – Jack?” as Mark had turned the corner to go back into the main room, he caught sight of Jack still standing where Mark had left him, and now Jack was crying. Full on crying.

“Jack!” Mark rushed forward and didn’t hesitate to hug Jack tightly while he cried. “Jack, what’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry!” Jack sobbed, his body shaking from how hard he was crying. “I’m so sorry, Mark! I’m trying! I really, really am!”

“Hey, hey, hey, trying? What do you mean?” Mark wondered, carefully moving the two of them to the bed and sitting down so that Jack wasn’t standing on his shaky knees anymore.

“I thought I could do it and I can’t,” Jack sounded defeated and sad and Mark’s heart felt like it was shattering.

“Jack,” Mark frowned. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about? Do what? What’s the matter?”

“That’s the problem, I can’t tell you!” Jack continued to cry, while Mark just began to get more and more confused.

“Okay,” Mark finally answered, still rubbing his hand up and down Jack’s back. “Okay, just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it. You don’t have to tell me anything but how to help.” His voice was soft and gentle, making Jack relax beside him.

Jack didn’t know what to do, honestly. Obviously he couldn’t just stop crying and pretend everything was okay – not for lack of trying – but he couldn’t just tell Mark everything. There was _no way_. All Jack wanted, no – _needed_ – to do was lay in bed with his bear and calm himself down. So he asked for the only thing he could think of. “Can you go pick up something to eat?” Jack croaked, using the hem of his shirt to wipe at his tears.

“Yeah,” Mark agreed immediately. “Sure, I can bring you anything you want, just say the word.”

“I kinda would like pizza,” Jack whispered. From beside him, Mark was already nodding.

“Of course, I can go do that right now, or I can stay here if you need me,” he stated.

“I’m okay,” Jack nodded. “I’m kinda hungry,” he said softly. Mark seemed to understand that Jack needed some time alone, so Mark stood and headed toward the door.

“Hey, Jack, if you need anything or think of anything else you want, I’ve got my cell phone, okay?” Mark offered. Jack nodded tearfully, standing as well and making his way toward his suitcase.

“Thanks, Mark,” Jack’s voice was soft as he watched Mark leave. As soon as the door shut, Jack rummaged through his suitcase and quickly picked up his stuffed bear before all but diving into the bed.

It wasn’t Jack’s fault that he fell asleep. The Irishman only meant to spend a few minutes with the bear, cuddling it until his breathing slowed. But the bed was so comfy and Jack was so sleepy that he decided he could set an alarm on his phone and wake up before Mark returned.

His phone was in his hand and the clock app was open, but then before Jack could actually turn the alarm on, he fell asleep. So maybe it was Jack’s fault that he fell asleep. But here he was, curled up on top of the freshly-made bed with the bear clutched to his chest. It wasn’t even like Jack was just dozing – the strain of the past 24 hours or so made Jack so tired that he was fully asleep, even snoring softly with his mouth slightly open. He was out cold.

When Mark returned almost forty-five minutes later with his arms full of boxes from Pizza Hut, he came in quietly, unsure of what he was coming back to. So when he saw Jack curled up on the bed with his back toward the door, Mark couldn’t say he was surprised. Silently, Mark put the boxes on the table before making his way to Jack’s bed. “Jack,” Mark whispered as he approached the sleeping male, smiling softly as he saw the toy in Jack’s arms. “Jack, hey, I’m back.” Mark reached out and placed a light hand on Jack’s shoulder.

The sleeping man jerked awake at that, breathing in deeply and bringing his hands up to rub at his eyes. Just as suddenly as Jack had awoken, he panicked. Before really thinking about what he was dong, Jack smacked the discarded bear off the bed and sent it tumbling to the floor on the far side of the bed in a futile attempt to keep Mark from noticing it. “Dude, what was that for?” Mark frowned, looking between where the bear had landed and Jack. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Jack mumbled before perking up as he noticed the pizza boxes. “Dude, you got like, a ton of food.”

“Pizza and wings and breadsticks and cinnamon sticks,” Mark nodded, walking around the bed and picking up the bear, setting it back beside Jack, making no mention of it. Jack watched Mark skeptically, his cheeks tinging a bright pink in embarrassment. “I think I went overboard, but anything to get that overly-happy smile back on that face of yours.”

Jack didn’t say anything for a moment, waiting for the impending comment about the bear. But after a few moments of silence, Jack wondered if there even would be a comment. “That’s too nice, Mark,” he finally said. “I’ll give you money for my half if you tell me how much.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Mark waved him off, then made his way toward the table. “Now come and get some pizza,” he smiled. “And we’ll look at your leg after you shower tonight.”

“Okay,” Jack agreed, feeling as if a little bit of weight had been taken off his shoulders. He scooted off the bed and headed toward Mark, casting one last glance back over his shoulder at the bear sitting out on his bed. Maybe it was stupid and childish, but having the comfort item in Jack’s line of sight made him feel a bit better. Between that and the pizza and sitting beside Mark watching more Netflix, Jack started to think that maybe he’d be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this! I was a little nervous at first, but you are being so nice to me about this xx Please enjoy this next chapter, and if you have any ideas you'd like to see in the future, feel free to let me know!!

Mark continued to study Jack throughout the evening, searching for any other clues of what could be wrong with the other. But whatever it was that was bothering the Irishman, he hid it well. When the duo finished eating, Jack took a fast shower and Mark rewrapped the wound on his leg. “Are you tired, Jack?” Mark wondered as he finished securing the bandage and rolling down the legs of Jack’s sleep pants.

“Yeah, I’m spent. Are you not?” Jack wondered in surprise, smoothing down his still-damp hair before stepping toward the bed.

“No, I totally am,” Mark stated as he rummaged through his suitcase for his pajamas. “I just wanted to make sure you were all settled before I ran off,” he shrugged.

“I can take care of myself, ya know,” Jack scoffed as he sat cross-legged on his bed, looking at Mark in amusement. “But…” Jack trailed off and then turned to play with the hem of his worn t-shirt. “But I just want to say thanks again for earlier today,” he mumbled. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Don’t sweat it. Anytime, really,” Mark replied, leaning against the wall to continue talking to Jack. “So, is there anything you want to talk about?” he wondered.

“No,” Jack blushed. “I’m fine, really. I keep telling you, that car thing just freaked me out.”

 _Are you sure that’s all it is?_ Mark wanted to ask, but he figured his wellbeing was better off without the line of questioning. “Okay, then that’s good. Well, get some rest, okay?”

“Okay,” Jack nodded. While Mark disappeared into the bathroom, Jack laid down with his back facing the rest of the room so that he could clutch the teddy bear to his chest. He fell asleep almost immediately like that, feeling much more comfortable than he had since he’d woken up the morning he’d left home for the airport.

The next day at Playlist Live went almost exactly like the previous day, with Jack and Mark separating for a meet and greet separately before they came together for a photo op as a pair. When Jack entered the room and saw Mark waiting with a bottle of water in hand, Jack grinned and trotted over toward him. “Hey! Want a donut? They brought us donuts,” Mark said excitedly.

“Sure,” Jack laughed, taking the offered treat and leaning against the table that was set up for signing autographs. “How was your meet and greet?”

“Fantastic,” Mark replied, looking Jack over. “How was yours? You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jack nodded, taking a sip of the water bottle he’d snagged as well. “The meet and greet was okay. A little long, my leg hurts from standing so much,” he admitted with a shrug.

“Do you want medicine?” Mark wondered, immediately looking more concerned than he had a moment ago. “I brought the Tylenol with me, just in case.”

“You did?” Jack asked a little incredulously. “That’s…” Jack wanted to say that Mark was being overprotective, but the more he thought about it, the realization that Mark had thought ahead and brought stuff for Jack made Jack’s chest feel warm and a bit fuzzy. _Stop that_ , he told himself. “Thank you,” he finally said with a nod. “I’d really appreciate that.”

Mark motioned for Jack to follow him and headed toward where his backpack was laid. Jack set his beside Mark’s, watching as the red-haired man knelt down and rummaged through the bag and came back up with a small bottle of medicine. “Take two of these and you should be feeling better soon.” Mark promised.

Jack just nodded and threw back the two pills before handing back the medicine. “Thanks,” he replied again, and then a security guard was waving them over, signaling the start of the photo op.

“Remember, if you need anything, let me know,” Mark told Jack as they made their way toward the photo backdrop. “I’m happy to help.”

This time, Jack didn’t argue that he was okay and that he could do it himself. Instead, a genuine smile spread across his face and he nodded to Mark. “That sounds good.” With a light-hearted punch to Mark’s shoulder, the two of the turned to face the door, watching as the door opened and the security began to lead in the people for the photos.

Meeting fans was always great. When you mixed Jack and fans, it was always a good time. When you mixed Mark and fans, it was always a good time. So when you mixed Jack and Mark _and_ fans, it was a whole freaking party. Person after person came through for their photos, and each time was just as fun as the last.

Jack and Mark loved it when the fans wanted specific poses for the photos, and the stranger, the better. They had some where one of them was proposing to the fan while the other sulked off to the side. Some were the awkward prom poses. Fans requested peace signs, hand hearts, and all sorts of awesome things.

Then one girl approached the pair looking so nervous that Mark was a little concerned she was going to pass out. “Hey!” he grinned excitedly. “What’s your name?”

“I-I’m Sam,” she smiled.

“Yeah!” Jack cheered excitedly. “I love that name!” he laughed. At that, the girl perked up immediately and moved in to hug Jack first, then Mark.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Mark wondered as they signed the posters she would get from buying the photo op package.

“Yeah,” she nodded eagerly. “I’ve been looking forward to this since I bought the tickets in February,” she admitted.

“Well thanks for coming by to say hi,” Jack told her sweetly. “Did ya have any ideas for the photo?”

“Well, I uh, I saw this one that I thought was really cool but if you don’t wanna do it that’s cool too but – “

“Hey now,” Mark interrupted gently, placing his hands on Sam’s shoulders. “None of that. What do you want?” he wondered. Jack recognized that tone of voice. Calm and soft and non-judging. It made Jack happy.

“Can you and me like lift Jack up?” she wondered, cheeks tinging a bit pink. Both Jack and Mark nodded, and Sam’s face lit up again. “I’ll take your feet,” she offered to Jack. “I’m not that strong, and I’d rather drop your feet than your face.”

Jack laughed. “I appreciate that, I’d rather that too. Just be careful of this leg, okay?” he warned, gesturing to his injured leg. “Got a nasty cut.” Sam nodded immediately, then Jack turned to Mark and lifted his arms dramatically. “Come and get me, Markimoo!” he cooed playfully.

Mark scoffed and immediately leaned down to lift Jack, the green-haired man’s arm draping over his neck as he was suddenly tilted horizontally. Once Mark had Jack securely, Jack looked to Sam. “Ready for me to jump up?” he wondered. Sam bit her lip but nodded, still looking like her entire life was being made in this moment.

Jack jumped up and let Sam grab his legs, then he leaned back against Mark’s chest. As Mark’s arms wrapped around him and held him tightly, Jack felt that same warm, fuzzy feeling blossom in his chest as it had when Mark offered him medicine. Suddenly, Jack was so distracted by the prospect of being held by Mark that he barely remembered to smile for the picture until the last second.

Just like that, the photo was done and Sam was gently placing Jack’s feet back on the ground. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she fretted, and Jack shook his head, reaching out to hug her again.

“No, you did great. Thanks again for coming to see us!” he smiled. Mark echoed the sentiment and they watched as Sam took her things and walked away, joining another group of girls at the far end of the room and giggling. It was then that Jack realized Mark was looking concerned and studying Jack. “What?” he wondered.

“Is your leg really okay?” he wondered.

“It’s fine. Just a little sore,” Jack shrugged. “Don’t get too worried about it, Mark. I’ll tell you if something’s wrong,” he stated honestly.

“Okay,” Mark relented before turning to the next fan approaching.

“I really liked that photo pose,” Jack commented off-handedly as they reached for their Sharpies.

“Yeah,” Mark nodded. “I did, too.”

The rest of the photo op went well enough, but by the time it was done, Jack seemed worn out and still in pain. “Do you want to still go to lunch with Bob and Wade?” Mark wondered. “Or are you too tired?”

“I am way tired,” Jack sighed, rubbing his face. “But I want to go to lunch still. If I eat one more meal in that hotel room I’m going to scream,” he laughed.

“Okay,” Mark nodded. “Do…do you need anything before we go?” he felt strange asking that question, because it’s one he would ask his young cousins or nieces and nephews before they went somewhere. But he couldn’t stop himself from asking the question, and he could only hope that Jack didn’t mind.

“I think I’m okay,” Jack responded, shouldering his backpack. “Let’s go.” He stopped to wait for Mark to gather all of his things, and then they made their way through the convention center toward the parking lot. It took a while since they continually stopped to see fans, but eventually they were in the car and Jack was on the phone with Bob and Wade, trying to coordinate where to eat.

“Oh, this is for the birds. I don’t know where any of these places are. Here, talk to Mark,” Jack laughed, shoving the phone toward the other. “Chauffer me around. Surprise me,” he teased, leaning back dramatically in the passenger seat of the car, closing his eyes. He listened to Mark talk about where to eat, the man’s gravelly voice sounding comforting and familiar to Jack. It made him happy.

Jack managed to doze off in the passenger’s seat of the car, only waking when Mark shook his shoulder. “Hey, Jack, we’re here.”

“Where’s here?” Jack murmured, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“It’s some place Bob suggested. It’s kind of a catch-all restaurant, so they have a little bit of everything. That okay with you?” Mark wondered.

“No, Mark,” Jack teased, face serious. “I refuse to go anywhere that isn’t one specific food type.” Mark looked almost like he thought Jack was serious, but after a moment he laughed and reached out to punch Jack’s shoulder.

“If you want to eat, get out of the car, you jackass,” Mark laughed. Jack followed him and they stepped into the restaurant, Jack looking around and becoming a bit more anxious as he realized just how busy this place was.

Mark seemed to notice the immediate change in attitude, and he turned to the other. “Are you okay?”

“There’s a fuck ton of people here,” Jack whispered before he took another step toward where he could see Bob and Wade.

“You’re fine, though?” Mark wondered. Either Jack didn’t hear him or he chose not to answer – which of those, Mark was unsure. But he just followed after Jack and took a seat next to Wade when they got to the booth. Still concerned about the other, Mark resolved to keep an eye on Jack.

"Should I get pasta or a burger?" Jack asked the table, though he was looking at Mark.

When Wade scoffed and said “I don’t know, shouldn’t you make that decision?” in a joking tone, Jack didn't laugh. He only looked confused.

"I'm getting pasta," Mark stated, trying to make things better. "If you get a burger we can split them?" he offered.

 

"Okay," Jack nodded, and if Mark wasn't imagining this, the boy looked relieved that a decision had been made.

 

Mark also saw that the other seemed more reserved than normal, not bursting out with commentary at random points during the meal as he normally did. Instead, Jack let Wade and Bob carry the majority of the conversation and only answered when spoken to. It almost seemed like Jack was too busy studying the entire room to talk, like he was searching for something.

“Are you feeling alright, Jack?” Bob asked after a while. “You’re really incredibly quiet today.”

“I didn’t sleep too well last night,” Jack lied, casting a glance at Mark to see if the other would call him out on the lie. Mark didn’t. “That’s all.”

“Well, are you done for the day, at least? Can you go rest?” Wade wondered. “You’re looking kind of worse for wear, no offense.”

“Yeah, I’m done,” Jack responded before he looked to Mark. “Are you?”

“I have another meet and greet,” Mark replied. “But it’s not until almost three. I can take you back to the hotel first,” he offered. Internally, Jack brightened a bit. He would have time alone!

“Sounds good,” is what he casually answered. Not too much longer after that, Wade had to run to make a panel, and Bob was off to meet up with Mandy. So once they had all paid their lunch bills and said goodbye in the parking lot, Jack climbed into the car and took a deep breath.

“Hey, Mark?” he tried to ask casually. “Can we stop at the store on the way back to the hotel?”

“Yeah, sure. There’s a Walgreens down the street from the hotel, actually. Is that alright?” Mark replied.

“Sure,” Jack nodded. “It’ll be quick, I promise,” he told the other.

“Don’t sweat it,” Mark waved him off. He flipped on the radio and the two of them rode in a comfortable quiet to the store, and then Mark pulled up beside the entrance. “Did you want me to come in too, or just wait in the car?” he offered.

“I’ll just run in real quickly,” Jack replied. “Do you need anything?” he wondered.

“Could you grab me a Gatorade or juice or something?” Mark asked, reaching for his wallet. Jack nodded, but waved off the offer of money.

“You wouldn’t let me pay you for dinner, so at least let me buy this,” Jack requested, closing the car door before Mark could argue. As Jack stepped into the store, he looked around for a small basket while simultaneously taking a mental note of where all the store sections were.

First, Jack found the drinks and grabbed Mark’s Gatorade, just so that he knew he wouldn’t forget to get his friend’s drink. Then Jack made his way to the toy section, feeling a sense of relief wash over him at the sight of all the toys and books. The man spent a few moments just taking in the contents of the row, then he made a beeline for the coloring books.

Jack scanned the titles and covers of the books carefully before picking up a Star Wars coloring book and a pack of crayons. They made their way into the basket and Jack continued looking at the toys. He wanted to buy some Legos and some toy cars, but the Big side of him reasoned that anything he bought would have to be hidden in the hotel room and then eventually be taken home with him.

So Jack left everything else on the shelves and then made his way toward the checkout, but something else caught his eye. He stopped in his tracks and his eyes were drawn down the infant aisle. _You don’t need that_ , he told himself, but still Jack’s feet brought him down the aisle to where the small blanket hung on a rack.

It was a tiny blanket, no bigger than a book, with satin sewn on one side of it. On three of the four corners were little dog paws, like from a stuffed animal, and on the fourth corner was a small stuffed puppy head. _You don’t need that_ , Jack repeated to himself. Then he reached out, grabbed it, and dropped it into the basket.

Jack already felt a bit ridiculous, like everyone in the store was staring at him and knew exactly why he was buying these things – especially when his eyes fell on the pastel green pacifier hanging a few feet away. This time he didn’t even bother to try and tell himself he didn’t need it, he just reached out and quickly dropped it into the basket.

Jack’s face burned in embarrassment and he couldn’t fathom going to the checkout with the items in his basket. He stood in the middle of the store, unsure of how to continue. Looking around, Jack noticed all of the birthday cards and gift bags and lit up at the sight of the baby shower gift bags.

He didn’t even look to see how much it cost – he just grabbed the first baby-themed bag and tossed it in on top of the items before taking a shallow breath and stepping toward the checkout counter. “Hi! Did you find everything alright?” the girl behind the counter asked, and Jack smiled kindly at her.

“Yes, I did, thanks,” he reached back into his pocket for his wallet, handing her some cash and waiting a bit impatiently as she bagged up all of his purchases. The woman took the money and handed him the change and the bag, smiling at him.

“Have fun at the baby shower!” she told Jack, and the green-haired man felt an overwhelming sense of relief that buying the gift bag had worked.

“Thanks,” he replied over his shoulder as he headed for the door. “Have a good afternoon,” he waved at her before stepping back into the Miami heat and looking around for Mark’s car. _The hard part is over_ , he told himself as he climbed back into the passenger’s seat. _Now you just have to get back to the hotel._

“Ready to go?” Mark asked as Jack buckled himself back into the car, and Jack nodded.

“Yeah, thanks again for stopping,” he replied as he rummaged carefully through the bag and pulled out Mark’s drink. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” Mark took the bottle in his hand and then set it in the drink holder. “Alright, so I’m going to have to drop you at the door and run to make my next meet up,” he mentioned. “You have a hotel key right?”

“Yeah, I do. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you late,” Jack frowned.

“Hey, not your fault. It’s traffic more than anything,” Mark insisted. “The hotel’s right here so it’s not a big deal.” Jack still felt bad, but he didn’t apologize again, because he knew Mark would just deflect it. 

As they pulled up to the hotel, Mark turned to look at Jack. “Now go get some rest, okay? If you need something, call me.”

“Thanks,” Jack smiled. “I will. Have fun at the meetup. Text me when you’re on the way back so I can be ready if we need to do something,” he requested.

“Sounds like a plan. Bye, Jack,” Mark waved as Jack shut the door to the car, and Jack mirrored the motion as he hurried inside, feeling excited that he finally, _finally_ had some alone time. Jack already felt better, like he was already more in control of everything. _Maybe I’ll feel better after this and Mark can stop worrying_ , he told himself as he headed into the elevator. One could only hope.


	4. Chapter 4

Once Jack got to the hotel room, he breathed out a sigh of relief and dropped the bag onto his bed before falling to his knees beside his suitcase. Jack rummaged through the clothes until he pulled his teddy bear out of the bottom of the bag, hugging it tightly to his chest. “Hi, Benny,” he whispered experimentally into the empty room.

Jack stood up moments later and sat cross-legged on the bed, tugging the baby shower bag out first, suddenly realizing he’d have to do something with it later. Shrugging, Jack tossed it toward his suitcase, figuring he could hide it with his bear at the end of the day.

Next out of the bag were the crayons and the coloring book, which Jack set on the bed carefully so he didn’t knock them off the edge of the bed. Reaching back into the bag, Jack pulled out the blanket and pulled the price tag off of it, setting it in his lap.

Finally, Jack pulled out the pacifier, studying it carefully. It looked like it could be a little small, but Jack was curious. So he pulled the cardboard backing off of the plastic, then threw it to the side and pulled the pacifier out of the plastic before tossing it aside as well.

This left Jack with the pacifier in his hand, turning it over and inspecting it closely. It was a pastel green color with a white ring, plain and simple. Jack had never tried this before, because he’d never been brave enough to order one through the internet, and he’d never even fathomed buying one in person. Honestly, he wasn’t too sure how he’d managed to do it this time.

After a minute of hesitation, Jack finally popped the pacifier in his mouth. His face burned in embarrassment for a few seconds as the pacifier sat awkwardly on his tongue. As he’d suspected, the rubber nipple of the pacifier was a bit too short for his mouth, but as he began experimentally suckling on it, he grew a bit more used to it.

It took a couple of minutes, but pretty soon Jack had calmed down and began to let himself relax. He moved so that he was laying on his stomach, Benny tucked into the crook of his arm as he opened the box of crayons. Before too long he was splayed out happily on the bed with crayons surrounding him, the pacifier bobbing happily at his lips as he held Benny in one arm while running his fingers over the silk side of the tiny blanket he’d purchased. The other hand was coloring with reckless abandon, filling in the pictures with colors and patterns.

As it normally happened with Jack when he was in a Little headspace, he lost all track of time. The green-haired boy was lost in the world of stuffed animals and coloring books and had no desire to look at the clock. He only looked up when he heard his phone ringing, and he immediately spit the pacifier out and began looking for his phone. He finally found it on the sink in the bathroom and he answered it just before it would have gone to voicemail. “Hello?” Jack cleared his throat as he answered.

“Hey, it’s me. I’m on my way back to the hotel now,” Mark’s voice filtered through the phone, and Jack’s eyes widened. “I forgot to text you when I got to the car, then decided texting wasn’t the best plan. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“No, no, it’s fine. I was just watching TV,” Jack lied, already scrambling back to the main room to start cleaning up. Upending his suitcase onto the floor, Jack first put in the gift bag and the coloring book, followed by the little blanket.

“Well, I can come up to the room after I get back, and we can figure out what to do from there. I know Felix said he and Marzia were going to check out the beach, and Bob and Wade are doing a live stream.”

“O-okay. Well, how far out are you?” Jack wondered, looking at the bed where crayons were scattered every which way.

“About five minutes,” Mark responded. “So, think about what you want to do, and we’ll talk soon, alright?”

“Okay,” Jack said quickly. “Bye!” he chirped before hanging up and immediately scooping crayons into his hands. Jack shoved them into the box as quickly as he could manage, glad that’d he’d gotten the smaller box as compared to the huge one, because he was already having trouble finding the entire set of crayons, but maybe that was because he had kicked them off in such a hurry to get to his phone.

However, Jack managed to find them all and get them in the box, throwing it and the pacifier into the suitcase before he began to pile all his clothes back into the bag. It was a hot mess when it was all said and done, but everything was hidden away and Jack jumped onto the bed with his laptop. Jack hissed loudly as he landed on his injured leg, frowning and trying to stretch it out as gingerly as possible.

As Mark pulled into the hotel parking lot, he reached to grab his cell phone from the cup holder but misjudged the distance and sent it flying into the foot well of the passenger side. “Well, shit,” the man mumbled, unbuckling and leaning over to grab for his phone, but quickly realized it had disappeared underneath the seat. So Mark shut off the car and walked around to the passenger side of the car, crouching down to look underneath the seat.

He caught sight of his phone and some trash, so he pulled it all out from under the seat. As he pocketed his phone, Mark gathered the trash, noticing that one of the pieces of papers was a receipt. Mark didn’t want to throw it away if it ended up being important, so he glanced over it, looking confused as he read the items purchased from Walgreens earlier in the day. “Oh my god,” he whispered to himself. It all made a lot of sense all of the sudden.

Jack had just managed to get comfortable on the bed with an episode of _Criminal Minds_ playing on his laptop when the door clicked open and Mark entered. “Hey,” Jack smiled, pausing the show. “How was your meetup?”

“It was good,” Mark nodded, coming to sit on the edge of his own bed where he could see Jack. “How was your afternoon? You get any rest?” his eyes were glancing around the room like he was looking for something, but Jack couldn’t tell what it was he was looking for.

“Yeah, it was good. Are you alright?” Jack sat up and looked to him unsurely.

“Of course,” Mark nodded, relaxing against the bed and linking his hands behind his head. “So what’d you do today?”

Jack shrugged. “Mainly watched TV. Slept a little bit. Why?”

“Just curious,” Mark blushed as he looked away.

“You’re acting weird,” Jack frowned, crossing his arms. “What’s going on? Be honest.” Mark sighed and then sat up again, taking his glasses off and rubbing his face.

“Promise not to be mad,” Mark requested. Jack cocked his head to the side then shrugged.

“Sure? Mark, just tell me? You’re freaking me out,” Jack worried his bottom lip between his teeth again.

“I dropped my phone in the car and when I went to get it I found your receipt from the store,” Mark mumbled, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. “Are…are you a Little?” he asked cautiously.

Jack felt a pit in his stomach and he went numb, immediately grabbing the paper from Mark and holding it to his chest protectively, as if it was still a secret from the other. “Listen, Jack, it’s fine. I understand now why you didn’t want to tell me, but it’s honestly all fine.”

Jack could barely hear what Mark was saying over the ringing in his ears, and his mouth opened and closed as if he was trying to say something but he couldn’t make the words come out. _Mark knows_ echoed through Jack’s head, and he felt like he was going to be sick. “Jack?” Mark called softly. “Jack, hey, look at me. Breathe.”

Jack met eyes with Mark, and Mark felt a stab of physical pain in his chest when he saw the blue eyes swimming with tears. “What?” Jack whispered. Mark couldn’t quite tell if that was a “What do you want?” what or a “I can’t believe you found that” what. Either way, it was breaking his heart.  

“Jack,” Mark repeated, moving to crouch in front of Jack. “Everything’s okay and there’s no need to freak out, okay? I want you to breathe for me.” Mark’s hands rested on Jack’s knees, squeezing softly. Jack didn’t have the energy to do anything but comply, so he just took a few deep breaths and kept looking at Mark.

After a few minutes, Jack felt like he could finally speak. “I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “I’m so sorry, Mark.”

“What on earth are you apologizing for? There’s nothing to apologize for,” Mark insisted, standing up so he could sit beside Jack and wrap an arm around his shoulders. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But it’s weird,” Jack mumbled softly. “A lot of people think this is weird.” He had returned to playing with the hem of his shirt. “It just seems to make me so much calmer. I don’t get like…stressed, as much?” Mark sighed gently.

“Okay, well, I like to consider myself a very open-minded person,” Mark said gently. “Listen, Jack, I really care about you, and I don’t like the idea of you being way too stressed and uncomfortable and unhappy. So whatever you do to keep yourself happy and healthy, cool. I don’t know too much about the whole Little thing, but I can see why it’d help people.” He went quiet after that, letting Jack make the next move.

It was silent for a number of minutes, but then Jack sniffled and seemed to collapse in on himself a little bit as he hid his face in his hands. “Why are you so damn nice?” he cried into his hands.

“You’re my best friend,” Mark replied quietly. Jack sagged against Mark’s body and continued to cry, though his tears were getting less intense as time moved forward. “So, you okay?” Mark wondered, looking down at the other. “All things considered?”

“Can we like, not talk about it for a bit?” Jack mumbled, sitting up and wiping his eyes. “I…that’s a lot to take in,” he admitted. “No one’s ever, like, known before…”

“Of course,” Mark responded sweetly. “Uh, I can like, go out if you want me to…I can go hang with Felix or Bob and Wade?” he offered.

“No, that’s okay,” Jack shook his head. “Unless you want to go,” he said quickly.

“We could go get food then hang out with Felix and Marzia for a bit,” Mark offered. “Gets us out of here and exploring a bit. We can come back whenever you want, or I can bring you back by, or whatever it is you want.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Jack nodded, wiping his nose across his wrist before he stood. “Uh, I’ll just clean up then,” he murmured, and Mark nodded.

“Alright. I’ll be here,” Mark nodded, moving back to his own bed to sit back and wait. He still felt bad for making Jack so upset, but maybe this was one of those “it gets worse before it gets better” situations.

Jack closed himself in the bathroom and sagged against the closed door for a moment, struggling to get a hold on his emotions. He was mortified that Mark had found out, though Jack had to admit a small part of him was relieved. He felt like he didn’t have to distance himself from Mark anymore.

Taking a few minutes to splash water on his face and allow his eyes to get a little less red, Josh worked on making sure he was ready to leave. His shirt was done for, a mess of tears and wrinkles from twisting it in his hands.

When Jack stepped out of the bathroom, he was shirtless. Mark sat up, ready to leave, then scoffed when he saw Jack. “You look less ready than you did when you went in there! The whole point of leaving is to have clothes on,” he teased lightly.

“Yeah, yeah, shut it,” Jack laughed and threw the discarded shirt at Mark before reaching into his suitcase and pulling out a random shirt and throwing it on. “I’m ready now,” he added as he slid his Converse onto his feet.

“Let’s go then,” Mark smiled, opening the door to the room. He let Jack lead the way to the elevator, and as they made their way to the car, they debated about where to eat dinner.

“Can I just say I’m sick of fast food? Something with real vegetables would be great,” Jack laughed.

“Me too,” Mark agreed, looking to his phone. “Apparently there’s a few mom and pop diners that could be good?” he offered.

“That sounds good,” Jack agreed. As he sat quietly in the car beside Mark, Jack wondered what Mark really thought about everything he’d learned earlier in the day. But Jack didn’t want to talk about that now. For now, he wanted to go to dinner, have a normal conversation with Mark, then go meet up with Felix and Marzia. He wanted to have a good evening, especially if things were destined to go to shit in the near future.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Enjoy this next chapter! Thank you for all your kind words and for being patient over my absence :) Let me know what you think!

The evening passed quietly, with Jack and Mark talking with each other through dinner while managing to avoid the elephant in the room. When they met up with Marzia and Felix it got easier, because they had something else to focus on. The four of them spent quite some time on the beach, talking and laughing and just catching up. The night got even better  as Mark and Jack found an arcade on the boardwalk, allowing them a chance to play some games and just relax.

The duo played in the arcade until sunset came, then they moved to stand on the pier at Jack’s request so they could watch the sun go down over the water. “It’s so pretty here,” Jack commented softly.

“It really is,” Mark nodded in agreement while he leaned against the railing of the boardwalk, nodding to Felix and Marzia as they walked up beside them as well.

“Hey, we’re going to head back once the sun’s down, we’ve got an early day tomorrow,” Felix explained, wrapping his arms around Marzia’s shoulders.

“Sounds good,” Mark nodded. “It was cool getting to just hang out with you guys,” he stated before he reached out to hug Marzia. Jack moved to say goodbye to them as well, and then Marzia and Felix disappeared to walk the boardwalk in the fading light.

Jack stood against the railing of the boardwalk, staring out at the water even as the sun set and darkness began to fall upon the ocean. Mark stood quietly beside him, patient and enjoying the view himself. Finally, Jack sighed and rested his chin on his hand, glancing over at Mark.

“It’s not a sexual thing,” he blurted out suddenly. Mark’s head cocked to the side as he glanced at Jack, but then he seemed to realize what the other meant.

“I figured as much,” Mark replied after a moment of silence. “When you said it keeps you from being stressed, I kind of put it together that it wasn’t like that.” The silence hung heavily in the air, Jack feeling like something was sitting on his chest, making it hard to breathe. He looked back out at the ocean. “How often?”

“Whenever I need it. Usually a time or two a month.”

“Who else knows?”

“My mom.”

“How did you…find out?”

“It just happened. Over time, sort of.”

“It makes you happy?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

And just like that, Jack felt like he could breathe again. He spared a glance over at Mark, who was picking at the splintering wood of the railing. “So, you’re really not angry?”

“Why would I be angry?” Mark frowned. Jack shrugged, glancing away shyly once more. Mark stepped closer to Jack, their shoulders touching. “It would take a lot for me to get mad at you.”

“Thanks, Mark,” Jack whispered before sighing and wrapping his arms around himself. “Can we go back to the hotel? It got really cold all the sudden,” he requested.

“Of course,” Mark nodded, turning to lead the way back to the car. His arm settled around Jack’s shoulders as they walked in an attempt to warm up the other. It was a comfortable silence now, thankfully. Jack still felt a little weird about the whole thing, but he wasn’t worried about sending Mark running for the hills anymore at least, and that was something.

Back at the hotel, Jack decided to take a quick shower while Mark took that opportunity to go down to the hotel gym and exercise “for fun”, he said. “Fucking weird, that is,” Jack sighed as he moved to gather pajamas from his suitcase.

“Shut up,” Mark laughed. “I’ll be back in like an hour,” he stated before leaving Jack alone. Jack took his time cleaning up, even managing to wash out the cut in his leg without freaking out. He still needed Mark to wrap it, of course, but at least Jack had done part of the process.

When Mark returned from his workout all sweaty and gross, Jack was stretched out on the bed with his laptop playing the _Criminal Minds_ episode he’d started earlier. “How’s your leg looking?” Mark wondered as he began to look through his suitcase for clean clothes.

“Still gross and all painful,” Jack scoffed. “Can you wrap it again after your shower?” the boy yawned immediately after the statement, and Mark nodded.

“Of course,” Mark nodded. “I’ll be fast.”

“Kay,” Jack nodded, settling beneath the covers again and training his attention back to the television show. Mark disappeared into the bathroom and took his shower as quickly as possible, knowing that Jack was more than ready to go to sleep.

After brushing his teeth and making sure all the water was mopped up off the tile floor, Mark gathered up the cream and the gauze to head back out to Jack. He found the boy all but asleep, staring with glassy eyes at the laptop screen with the teddy bear from yesterday clutched to his chest. “Hey, can you sit up for me?” Mark asked gently, unsure of how Jack was feeling at the moment.

Jack’s sleepy eyes studied Mark for a moment before he nodded, sitting up against the headboard and swinging his leg up so it was above the covers. “Thanks for doing this,” Jack repeated, and Mark waved him off as he sat at the edge of the bed.

“Don’t mention it. I’d hate for this to get worse and ruin your time here,” Mark murmured as he studied the gauze while wrapping Jack’s leg. Jack was watching him quietly, looking as if he was practically asleep sitting up. “Okay,” Mark stated once he was done. “You’re all set to go. Go on and lay back down,” he murmured, pulling the covers back so Jack could lay down.

Jack turned bright red and looked like he was going to argue, but then his face softened and he laid down, curling up on his side. Mark draped the blankets over the Irishman’s shoulders and then nodded. “You good?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Jack yawned, his eyes falling shut. Mark made his way to the other side of the bed where Jack’s laptop was still playing, then he paused the show and took the computer and placed it on the desk.

Mark figured Jack was already asleep, so he took his time getting ready for bed. He made his way to the room door and made sure it was locked, then turned off the main lights to the room, leaving only the lamp on his side of the bedside table illuminated. Then he settled himself against the headboard with headphones and his own laptop, spending some quality time with Netflix and Twitter.

Finally Mark’s eyes grew heavy and he shut his computer and slid it onto the bedside table. After making sure his phone was charging, Mark clicked off the lamp finally and moved so that he was laying down. He closed his eyes and was just about to drift off to sleep when he heard rustling from the other side of the room. “Goodnight, Mark,” Jack’s voice was heavy with sleep, as if he had been dozing and clinging just barely to consciousness.

“Goodnight, Jack,” Mark replied, the last part of the other’s name dropping off into a yawn. Mark listened carefully after that, falling asleep only after he was sure Jack’s breath had evened out into sleep.

~*~*~

The alarm jostled both Mark and Jack awake the next morning, and Jack groaned as his hand reached out to smack the device into silence. “Morning,” Mark grumbled as he turned his face to see Jack burying his head beneath the pillow.

“I need coffee,” Jack moaned as Mark turned on the lamp on the bedside table. “Good morning,” he added as an afterthought.

“I promise we’ll get coffee on the way,” Mark bargained. “I’ll give you a few more minutes of rest, I’ll go get dressed first.”  

“Thanks,” Jack yawned, though he didn’t move from his pillow cocoon. Mark smiled in amusement and playfully tugged at the blanket surrounding Jack as he walked by. “Fuck you,” Jack grumbled.

“Oh that’s just not nice,” Mark scoffed as he headed for the clothes he’d set out the night before. Jack peeked out from underneath his pillow while he watched Mark make his way into the bathroom, then the blue-eyed man settled further into the bed and closed his eyes. He didn’t really mean to, but he fell back asleep.

Mark emerged from the bathroom, calling out to Jack that the bathroom was free. But the lump beneath the covers didn’t move, and Mark just rolled his eyes. “Come on, bud, wake up,” he said gently, walking toward the bed and gently shaking what Mark assumed was Jack’s shoulder.

“No thank you,” Jack replied after a few moments. “I’ll pass.”

“Come on. Think of the fans. And the coffee.”

“Mmm, coffee,” Jack removed his pillow helmet and squinted into the light of the room. “God, you got ready fast.”

“That was like twenty minutes,” Mark chuckled, offering Jack his hand. “Come on. Up with you.” Jack seemed reluctant for a moment, but then he grabbed Mark’s hand and let the other pull him up. “Go splash some water on your face, that’ll wake you up.”

“Okay,” Jack mumbled, shuffling toward the bathroom and leaving Mark to scroll through social media while he waited. Jack emerged about ten minutes later, still looking like he was half asleep. Dressed in black jeans, a red t-shirt, and his glasses, Jack looked younger than he usually did. The man tossed his crumpled up pajamas on the bed then pouted at Mark. “I was promised coffee.”

“Are you even going to brush your hair first?” Mark teased as he stood up, gathering his wallet.

“Nope, today’s look is sponsored by ‘I’m Too Tired to Function’,” Jack sighed, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses and he slipped his hands into his pockets. “Now, I was promised coffee,” he repeated.

“Patience,” Mark laughed as he headed toward the door. “Now, you have to walk to the car so I can drive to the Starbucks. Can you handle that?” he teased.

“Oh god, Mark, you expect so much out of me!” Jack huffed before he giggled. “Let’s go.” Mark followed Jack out the door and then led him to the car. “Today is another group meet and greet right?” he asked. “With Wade and Bob?”

“Yeah,” Mark nodded. “Other than that, we’re just walking around and hanging out.”

“Good,” Jack sighed. “I’m not in the mood to be super busy,” he admitted.

“Do you feel…okay?” Mark asked after a moment of hesitation. Immediately, Mark began to panic, afraid he shouldn’t have asked the question in case he was going to upset Jack.

“I feel okay-ish,” Jack replied after a second. Mark looked over and saw that Jack’s cheeks were rapidly turning pink as he looked anywhere but at Mark. “Yesterday helped a lot,” he admitted.

“Good,” Mark nodded. “I’m glad.” He changed the conversation drastically as he approached the Starbucks, pointing it out to Jack. “Look, didn’t I promise you that patience is a virtue?!”

“Listen, you can tell me anything and everything and I will believe it if you put a cup of coffee in my hands immediately afterward,” Jack mumbled. He rattled off his coffee order to Mark as the man pulled through the drive-thru, and soon enough Jack had a cup of caffeine in his hands and he already looked much happier.

“Can you start your day now?” Mark teased, and Jack gave him the finger dramatically.

“You’re just as bad as I am and you know it,” Jack snorted. “Don’t even try to play that with me.”

“Fine, fine,” Mark laughed. “Did you take your pain meds this morning?” he wondered.

“No,” Jack admitted, feeling himself start to feel embarrassed again. “I didn’t think about it.”

“What would you do without me,” Mark shook his head playfully before he gestured to the backpack laying Jack’s feet. “I still have it in there.”

“I’d be in pain all day,” Jack admitted as he rifled through the bag. “Thanks, Mark,” he said again for what Jack felt was the millionth time in the past few days. “You’re awesome.”

“I know, I know,” Mark grinned, bowing playfully as he stopped at a red light. “I’ll be here all week.” Jack leaned his head back and swallowed the pills without issue, and before too long had passed, Mark was pulling into a parking spot at the convention center. “You ready?”

Jack looked over at Mark and nodded quickly. “We can stay together today, yeah?” he asked after a second. As soon as the question had left his mouth, Jack was looking away and blushing, as if he was embarrassed he’d opened his mouth.

“I’ll be with you all day,” Mark assured the other, taking a quick moment to squeeze the other’s shoulder. “And if you need something, you tell me. Agreed?”

Jack nodded to that before turning away and popping out of the car so quickly that he almost looked like he’d just disappeared. Mark shook his head and followed after the Irishman, slinging his backpack over his shoulders and jogging to catch up with him. “Dear god, there’s no way this is the same Jack that I saw at the hotel this morning,” he teased.

“Coffee, Mark. It’s an amazing thing,” Jack sighed happily as he pulled the door open to the building and headed inside with the other.

“Speaking of,” Mark interjected. “Did you already finish that whole coffee?” he asked in amazement. Jack stopped and blinked at Mark, then looked over his shoulder back to where he’d thrown away his cup in the bin outside the front doors.

“Yeah,” he replied, looking a little confused. “I guess I did.” Then Jack giggled before he shrugged. “I’ll just get more once we settle down somewhere.”

“You’re going to keel over of a heart attack before you’re thirty,” Mark shook his head in disbelief as they headed into the main part of the convention. It was there that the two friends got swept up in the fans that had arrived already, chatting and hugging and taking pictures with each one.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to Blackwidowislyfe because this is something you said would be the cutest thing ever...hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Also sorry this chapter has taken so long to get to you guys. I went back to university and I'm going crazy with how much work I've got! Hopefully it stars slowing down soon!

Jack didn’t pay attention to anything except for the fans for the next few hours, laughing and making sure each person had one-on-one time talking to him. He didn’t even realize that time was passing as quickly as it was, but then he finally looked to Mark standing a few yards away and noticed the clock over his shoulder. It had been nearly two hours that they had been greeting fans, and suddenly Jack became hyperaware of everything he was feeling.

Firstly, he was grinning so hard that his cheeks hurt, which Jack didn’t mind at all. His throat was sore from talking so loudly, and his mouth was dry. On the more negative notes, Jack’s leg hurt pretty badly from standing for so long, and he also really, really needed to go to the bathroom. It was as if at that realization that Jack became overwhelmed, and he blinked heavily before trying to figure out what to say to the girl standing in front of him.  “Are you alright?” she asked nervously, then Jack quickly nodded.

“Yeah,” he laughed, reaching out and patting her shoulder. “Sorry, I zoned there for a minute is all,” a tense smile graced his features but he continued to greet the fans. In the back of his mind he knew ignoring his predicament was not at all a good idea, but he had no idea how to otherwise take care of the problem without embarrassing himself in front of all the fans he was with.

Mark heard the fan ask Jack if he was okay and then Jack’s thinly-veiled answer, leaving Mark concerned and watching his friend closely. It didn’t take long for Mark to realize that Jack’s leg was bothering him, because Jack was shifting most of his weight to his good leg. But that wasn’t the only problem, Mark soon realized. Jack seemed restless – he wouldn’t stand still for too long, and he was biting his lip again, much like he had been at the panel a few days prior.

Electing not to say anything yet but to watch Jack closely, Mark continued to talk with the fans. He watched as Jack began shifting his weight from one foot to the other, despite the look of pain he gave every time his bodyweight fell onto his injured leg. Mark frowned, because he knew something was very wrong with Jack, but he just couldn’t figure out what.

Jack was starting to panic – he really needed to get out of here and find a bathroom, but for the life of him he couldn’t gather the courage to excuse himself from the dozens of fans still surrounding him. Unsure of what else to do, he started looking around for Mark.

After a few frantic looks, Jack located his friend and started making his way toward the other. Mark seemed to be attempting to do the same thing, and finally Mark was close enough to ask, “Are you okay?”

Instead of answering in a positive or negative, Jack elected not to answer at all, hoping that sufficed as an answer. “A-Are you having fun?” he asked.

Mark noticed immediately that Jack had avoided the question, and he frowned as he studied the other closer. “Yeah, I am. But we need to go see the panel set-up people before too long.”

“We should go then,” Jack replied almost immediately, nodding to back up his statement. “Can’t really keep them waiting.”

“Okay,” Mark nodded before turning to the fans. “Sorry guys,” he laughed to the group. “We’ve gotta run but we’ll see you all soon!” he waved at them for a moment before making his way toward the main stage, Jack following close behind after shouting out some similar farewell.

Mark changed his direction as soon as they broke away from the group of fans, taking Jack into the hallways the YouTubers used to move from one convention area to the other. He managed to find an empty room off to the side and he walked in, Jack following after him in confusion.

Jack really didn’t know what was going on, he just knew he wanted to pee. And he wanted to pee _soon_. He followed Mark into the room and grimaced as he stood in the doorway, squirming uncomfortably. “Come sit down,” Mark offered, pulling out a chair from the nearby table and sliding it closer to Jack.

“No, I-I’m fine,” Jack stuttered, twisting his hands nervously in front of him. “I really don’t want –“

“Jack, your leg is very obviously hurting you! Come on, just sit for a second, get off it,” Mark begged, pouting dramatically at Jack.

“No, please,” Jack replied. “Just listen to me,” he insisted. Mark seemed insistent though, so Jack sat uncomfortably on the chair. “Mark…”

“Do you need more medicine?” Mark wondered, already handing Jack a water bottle. The green-haired boy winced, because honestly that was the absolute last thing he needed.

“No, really, I’m okay,” Jack insisted, shaking his head again. “Mark, I need…” he trailed off, blushing bright red. He’d been so ready to let Mark help him a few minutes ago, but now that it was quiet and the two of them were alone, Jack was mortified.

“Jack,” Mark’s voice had gone soft, and Jack glanced up to see Mark looking curious and worried. “Jack, take a deep breath and talk to me.” The red-haired man knelt down in front of Jack and waited patiently for the answer.

“I really have to go to the bathroom,” Jack mumbled, dropping his face into his hands. His face continued to heat up, and Jack was afraid to look up. “I really have to pee but I didn’t know how to get away from the crowd and now we have to go to the panel and set up and my stomach hurts and – “ Jack immediately cut himself off, not wanting to keep talking and further embarrass himself.

“Oh, Jack,” Mark frowned, immediately standing. “Come on, let’s go then. We’ve got time.” Jack still didn’t move, so Mark gently grabbed Jack’s arms and tried to pull him into a standing position. “You should have said something a lot sooner,” he chastised gently.

“I’m sorry,” Jack frowned, to which Mark immediately shook his head.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he promised, trying again to pull Jack up to stand. “Let’s get moving.” When Jack finally glanced up, it was with wide eyes and his thumb at his lips, biting at his nail nervously. “Come on,” Mark encouraged gently.

Jack didn’t fight him this time, letting Mark pull him up off the chair and toward the door. That should have been Mark’s first clue that something was off with Jack, since Jack didn’t put up a fight. The second clue should have been that Jack reached out for a quick hug before seeming to realize what he was doing before wrapping his arms around himself sadly. “Hey,” Mark murmured, reaching out and bringing Jack close to his chest. “Just take a breath.” Mark could feel Jack trembling in his arms, and Mark squeezed him tighter for a moment before pulling away. “You alright?” he wondered softly.

“Yeah,” Jack sniffled, shifting on his feet again. “Can we go now?” he wondered softly.

“Of course,” Mark nodded, leading the way out the door and down the hallway toward where he knew the bathrooms were located. He walked as quickly as Jack would keep up, then leaned against the wall outside the bathroom door. “I’ll be here,” he informed Jack.

The Irishman didn’t respond, instead hurrying into the bathroom. He was gone for a few minutes, and when he returned, Jack seemed a little distracted. “Thanks,” he murmured, still nibbling on his thumbnail.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Mark asked softly, seeming to realize his friend was having a rough morning. Jack looked up at him, eyes wide and innocent. “Can I get you anything?”

“Can we just…stay in here awhile?” Jack requested, voice small. “It’s really nice and quiet back here. Unless we need to go see the panel people…”

“No, no,” Mark shook his head quickly. “We don’t need to see them for a while. I just wanted to get you away from everybody. You looked really overwhelmed.” Jack nodded silently, then looked up at Mark with teary eyes. “Hey, don’t cry,” Mark frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Jack sniffled, wiping his eyes. “You’re just really nice and you…” Jack trailed off, taking a deep breath. “You make me feel safe,” Jack admitted.

That simple statement made Mark’s chest warm with something akin to pride, and he reached out to hug Jack again. “Good,” Mark whispered into the other’s green hair. “You deserve it.”

That was how they stayed for a few minutes, until Jack looked up and around, pulling away from Mark. “We should go,” he murmured. “See the panel team.”

“Only if you’re sure you’re ready to go,” Mark insisted, and Jack nodded.

“I’m okay. I’m ready,” he promised. He took a few steps toward the door, turning to look over his shoulder at Mark. The older man followed after Jack and stepped around him so that he was leading the way to the main stage.

Getting the microphones set up was quick and easy, but having heard the creator’s voices amplified over the sound system had sent all the fans running for the stage, even though the pane wasn’t technically for another hour.

“What do you want to do?” Jack asked. “Stay out here or go back to the back until the panel starts?”

“Whatever makes you feel best,” Mark said honestly, and then he waited for Jack to answer.

“Let’s go back,” Jack requested. “I still feel…I need to be alone.” Mark nodded immediately and gestured for Jack to head off stage.

“I can entertain them,” Mark suggested, then Jack shook his head, eyes wide.

“No, I mean…I want you to come, too,” Jack all but whispered. “Please?”

“Okay,” Mark nodded, following quickly and dropping the mic into the hands of a patiently waiting tech-woman with a kind smile. “Anything you need.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! A little more interaction between Mark and Little!Jack! I'm trying to make this at least a little realistic! 
> 
> Thank you so much for all your awesome feedback, you guys! Please please PLEASE let me know what kind of things you want to be seeing in the story so I can work on getting it in there for you! 
> 
> xx

After the panel was complete, Mark and Jack made the executive decision to go back to the hotel for the rest of the day. “You look tired,” Mark told Jack, and Jack didn’t argue – because he was totally exhausted. “Do you want to watch a movie when we get back?”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded easily, settling his backpack on his shoulders. “But only if there’s popcorn,” he insisted. Mark laughed before shaking his head playfully.

“When did you become so picky?”

“Excuse you, I have always been picky,” Jack insisted. “You’ve simply never paid attention to me this much before,” he teased. Mark rolled his eyes and opened the car door for Jack. “Thanks?” Jack blushed as he folded himself into the car, glancing up at Mark through the green fringe on his forehead. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Too late, already done,” Mark chirped before shutting the door. Jack shook his head in amusement and settled himself into the seat to wait, closing his eyes. He didn’t mean to doze off, but just a couple moments after Mark got into the car, Jack slipped into unconsciousness.

This left Mark to drive back to the hotel in silence in fear of waking Jack from the rest he so obviously needed. But once the car was parked, Mark gently shook Jack awake. “Hey, dude,” he said gently. “We’re back. Let’s get you up to the room so that you can get all comfy in bed.”

“But the movie,” Jack whined as he stood up out of the car.

“We can start the movie,” Mark chuckled. It didn’t take long for them to get to the room, and Mark moved to connect his computer to the television so they could watch their movie on the big screen. Jack was in the bathroom, so Mark knocked softly on the door. “Hey, I’m heading down to the front desk to buy some popcorn. Do you want anything else?”

“No, thanks,” Jack called back. “You can take some money from my wallet. I’ll pay for the popcorn.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Mark called back, though he didn’t make a move for the green-haired man’s wallet. Instead he just left the room and made his way back to the small store at the front of the hotel.

Jack crawled into bed shortly after Mark left, curling up beneath the covers with his stuffed bear clutched in his arms. Beneath his pillow was the pacifier, though Jack knew more than likely he wouldn’t be brave enough to use that while Mark was present. Held in his hand was the small blanket he’d bought, his fingers running back and forth over the satin side of it. In his other hand was his phone, where Jack was happily retweeting every fan photo he came across.

Somewhere along the way, Jack slipped without totally realizing it. So when Mark came back in with a few bags of popcorn and some sodas, Jack blinked up at him almost shyly. “Hey,” Mark nodded to him, putting one of the sodas on the bedside table near Jack’s head. “You ready for a movie?”

“Yeah!” Jack responded enthusiastically, more enthusiastically Mark had expected. “But not a scary one,” he added softly.

“Okay, yeah, sure. What about Captain America?” Mark wondered. Something seemed different about the way Jack was acting, but Mark was too embarrassed to ask what.

“I like that movie,” Jack smiled softly. “It’s good!” Mark nodded and stepped away from the beds toward the microwave, intent on making the popcorn. “Hey, Mark?” Jack asked after a moment, sounding slightly nervous.

“What’s up?” Mark asked, turning around and looking to where Jack was still snuggled into bed.

“Is it okay that I’m…I’m like this?” he wondered quietly. Mark looked at Jack carefully, not really sure what he was asking. It took another couple of moments, but then it clicked.

“Yeah, Jack. It’s all good,” Mark promised, nodding as he closed the microwave door and started the timer. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“Okay,” Jack’s voice was so relieved that it made Mark’s heart sink, thinking about how worried Jack must have been before all of this had started taking place. It was quiet for a bit after that, Mark focusing on the popcorn and Jack laying quietly in bed. “Hey, Mark?” Jack repeated.

“Yes, Jack?” Mark replied calmly.

“I…I’m really glad I’m here.” Jack said softly. “I almost didn’t come,” he admitted.

“What? Why?” Mark frowned, glancing over his shoulder at Jack, his worry interrupted by the beeping of the microwave. After grabbing the hot bag of popcorn, Mark carried it to Jack’s bed, placing it beside Jack’s untouched soda before sitting beside Jack. “You didn’t want to come to Florida?”

“It’s a really long way to come,” Jack said softly, shrugging as he seemed to curl deeper beneath the covers with his teddy bear hugged tighter in his arms. “It seemed scary.” Jack sounded young, his voice soft and a little bit like it was wavering.

“Yeah, I understand that,” Mark nodded softly, agreeing. “But you’re glad you came after all?” he wondered. Jack nodded immediately, and Mark’s hand instinctively reached out to pat Jack’s leg, which led him to remember the big wound on Jack’s calf. “Hey, before you get too comfy we need to clean up that leg.”  

“Oh,” Jack sighed in disappointment. “But I’m comfy already,” he pouted, and Mark could have sworn that Jack looked like a toddler in that exact moment.

“I know you are, but think about how uncomfy you’ll be if that cut gets infected,” Mark made a face, and Jack did too as he sat up. “There’s my boy.” It rolled off his tongue so naturally, and he felt a sudden jolt of shock. Where had that come from?!

Jack cast an extra-long glance at Mark, but didn’t say anything as he rolled off the bed. Mark stood and smiled easily at him, letting the green-haired man lead the way into the bathroom. Silently, Jack jumped up onto the counter, leaving Mark to awkwardly begin to roll up Jack’s sleep pants and take off the old bandage.

It was a tense quiet in the room that Jack didn’t quite understand at the moment. He knew that Mark had seemed a bit embarrassed at his statement if the red cheeks were anything to go by, but now it was awkward and quiet. He cleared his throat. “I got a stuffed Sam from one of the fans today,” he offered softly, just to break the silence.

“Yeah?” Mark replied, relieved the silence had been broken. “That’s really nice of them.”

“Yeah. She said she made it herself and she came all the way from Virginia to bring it to me. I didn’t know how far away that was from here though so I just said thanks,” Jack giggled a little bit. “America’s really big. It’s weird to think where all these people came from.”

Mark smiled back up at the boy, nodding. “Yeah, it is. Well, just for future reference, Virginia is like a fourteen-hour drive from here.”

“That’s a lot,” Jack replied incredulously, eyes wide. “Wow.” Mark just studied the boy, trying to figure it out. If you weren’t playing really close attention, you couldn’t even tell Jack was acting differently. But now that Mark knew about it, and knew that Jack was in this headspace, it was like a neon sign stating that Jack was more vulnerable because he wasn’t acting his age.

“It is a lot,” Mark smiled, rolling down Jack’s pants legs and standing. “All done here! Ready to go back to bed?” Jack nodded and moved to jump down, and instinctively Mark reached out to make sure Jack kept his balance. Once he was sure Jack was stable, Mark moved to wash his hands while Jack shuffled from the bathroom.

Jack scrambled right back into bed and curled up beneath the covers once more, eyes following Mark as the red-haired man left the bathroom and grabbed his own bag of popcorn from the microwave. “Movie time,” Mark reported as he reclined against the headboard of his own bed. “You ready?”

Jack nodded silently, his hand darting out from beneath the covers to grab a handful of popcorn before it disappeared back into the cocoon. Mark couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the sight, shaking his head. “You’re something else, Jack.”

“It’s warmer under here,” was Jack’s response before he turned his eyes to the screen.

“Can’t argue with logic,” Mark murmured as he flipped the lamp’s power switch, making the room dark save for the TV screen, which was playing the Marvel opening sequence. It was then that Mark let his brain switch off and he thought of nothing but the movie playing on the screen.

Jack was splitting his attention between the movie and watching Mark, because honestly he couldn’t figure the other guy out. It just didn’t make sense that Mark was taking all this new information without seeming to even skip a beat, and he’d even called Jack “my boy”. Now that part had to be completely unintentional, Jack realized, because Mark had been embarrassed. But that didn’t change the fact that it had happened. Jack wondered where Mark _really_ stood in relation to all that had happened in the past day or so, but Jack couldn’t bring himself to ask – just in case he didn’t like the answer. Ignorance was bliss, right?

So Jack just stayed curled up in his cocoon and munched on his popcorn, watching as Steve Rogers morphed from this tiny boy of a man into America’s new hero. Somewhere between Steve punching Hitler in the face on stage and Steve losing Bucky, Jack drifted off to sleep, one arm still wrapped protectively around his bear and the other hand resting in a pile of popcorn.

When the movie drew to a close, Mark stretched as he stood to unhook his laptop from the TV. It quickly became apparent that Jack was asleep, even though Mark couldn’t see his head as it was under the blanket. Figuring that Jack would overheat in his sleep and wake up uncomfortable, Mark moved to pull the blanket off Jack’s head, more toward the slim boy’s shoulders.

Mark scoffed to himself when he saw the boy fast asleep with his hand in the popcorn, and Mark just rolled his eyes as he carefully lifted Jack’s hand and moved it away from the forgotten snack, gathering the kernels in his own cupped hands and throwing it away. When he turned back around to the bed, Jack was still fast asleep. Mark studied the other for a moment before finally retiring into his own bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

The next morning came around in what seemed like moments, and Jack awoke with a start at the ringing of the alarm on the bedside table. He groaned as he sat up and hit at the device until it silenced, then he blinked sleepily in Mark’s direction as the other man sat up as well. “Morning,” Jack mumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“Morning, how’d you sleep?” Mark asked while fumbling for his glasses.

“Like a rock,” Jack responded as he stood. “I’m gonna take a shower real quick,” he yawned before shuffling out of the room. Satisfied that he could have a couple more minutes to doze, Mark collapsed back into bed and fluffed his pillow up on top of his arms.

When Jack emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later with dripping wet hair and fogged up glasses, he laughed at the sound of Mark snoring. “Hey lazy bones, get up,” he called, tossing his discarded sleep shirt at the lump beneath the covers.

“You’re done already?” Mark mumbled as he rubbed his chin against the pillow. “That’s just not fair. You just went in there.”

“Already done. Get your lazy butt out of bed, it’s the last day!” Jack exclaimed, leaning down beside his suitcase to grab his shoes. “I want coffee.”

“Doesn’t seem like you need it,” Mark grumbled as he stood up finally. “Hey…” he trailed off, looking almost shyly at Jack. “Are you…” Jack stared back at him, confused. “Are you still…” Mark trailed off once more, unsure of how to complete the question.

“You can say it, you know,” Jack smiled kindly. “Am I still Little? No, not really. Why? Did I do something wrong?” he asked, suddenly looking fearful.

“No, no!” Mark insisted, shaking his head quickly. “No, you didn’t. I just was curious is all.” He stopped for a moment then chuckled. “But you did fall asleep with a handful of popcorn in the bed,” he laughed.

“Oh,” Jack laughed. “To be totally honest, I’m not sure that wouldn’t have happened even if I wasn’t Little,” he admitted. At that, Mark laughed out loud, rolling his eyes as he headed toward the bathroom. That much, Mark knew, was true.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please enjoy! Thank you guys for all your ideas, and if you have any more, feel free to let me know!

The last day of Playlist Live went quite well for the gamers, signings and panels keeping them busy enough, not to mention all the fans they met up with in between sessions. The group decided to get together one last time before everyone went their separate ways in the morning, so Jack found himself wedged into a booth between Bob and Arin, laughing and joking over drinks and many plates of appetizers.

“So are you heading back home after this?” Arin asked Jack, and Jack sighed before nodding.

“Yeah, I go to Los Angeles for a few days but then leave on Monday.” Jack nodded before shoving an onion ring in his mouth. “So I have a little while left.”

“That’s good,” Arin nodded. “Gives you some time to just relax.”

“What do you mean?” Jack frowned. Arin shrugged.

“You just seemed a little stressed all week. Maybe a few days at Mark’s by the pool will fix you right up,” Arin laughed.

“Oh,” Jack chuckled nervously, stirring his straw around in his drink as he studied it carefully. “Yeah, probably.” He looked up again after a moment and was pleased to notice the conversation taking off in another direction, leaving him to blend into the background.

But it seemed like every time Jack looked up, Mark was casing a glance his way. Almost like he was quietly asking if Jack was okay from the other end of the table. It was comforting, really. Knowing that someone was right there, understanding even just a little bit of what was going on in Jack’s mind.

It was quite a time before everyone decided to turn in for the evening, and Mark was more than ready to go back to the hotel. He was exhausted, and he could tell Jack was too. Since Mark was in a chair, he was able to stand up as soon as everyone began to say goodbye, shaking hands and giving hugs. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Jack was making his way toward the end of the booth, scooting alongside Arin until he was able to stand.

The second Jack stood though, he stumbled a bit on his feet as he tried to catch his balance. “Whoa,” he mumbled, reaching out to steady himself on the table.

“Dude, someone drank a little too much,” Arin laughed, his hand darting out to grab Jack’s shoulder. “Didn’t know an Irishman could do that,” he laughed.

“Shut up,” Jack mumbled, though he didn’t make a move to stand up on his own. “I’m fine, just give me a second.”

“Mark, your hotel buddy is drunk!” Bob called out, and Jack shushed him dramatically.

“Shut up!” Jack whined.

“Alright, Jack,” Mark sighed gently as he approached. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” he replied quite angrily, shaking Arin’s hand off his shoulder. “I can hold my alcohol, I swear. I’m alright.” The sharpness of his statement wore off the more he talked, until finally it sounded more like a statement that Jack wasn’t sure he believed a hundred percent.

“Alright, let’s not get all feisty,” Mark said gently, sliding up beside Jack. “Okay? You say you’re fine, so you’re fine,” he promised. “But just to make me feel better, can I walk beside you? Just in case?” Jack nodded sharply at that before stopping and wincing a bit before rubbing at his eyes.

“Fine,” he grumbled.

“Should we head back?” Felix suggested, breaking the slightly tensed silence. While everyone knew that Jack and Mark were definitely best friends, none of them had ever seen Jack succumb to someone’s suggestions so quickly. But they’d also never seen Jack this tipsy, so they ignored it.

“Yeah, definitely,” Wade responded, checking the time on his phone. “Shit, my flight out of here leaves in like six hours,” he sighed. It was like that statement made everyone else realize how late it was and how early _their_ flights were, so the large group made their way out of the restaurant and out into the streets of Miami to walk the couple of blocks back to their hotel.

As Jack stumbled along, Mark grew more and more worried about his friend. “Jack,” he said softly. “Jack, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m perfect,” Jack slurred. “I think I may have just had a tiny bit too much to drink,” he whispered loudly to his friend. “But don’t tell Arin. I was mean to him,” Jack’s statement became a realization, and he frowned up at Mark. “Is Arin mad?”

“No, bud, I don’t think so. I think he knows you’re drunk,” he laughed quietly. “But you can apologize tomorrow.”

“I’m not drunk,” Jack insisted, pointing a finger at Mark. “I might be tipsy, but I’m not drunk.”

“Alright,” Mark responded immediately, looking back ahead to where he could see Felix glancing over his and Marzia’s shoulders curiously at the duo.

“Hey, Mark?” Jack croaked suddenly, stopping in his tracks. It took Mark’s tired mind a moment to realize this is what happened, but then he turned to face Jack.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asked quickly, taking a few steps back toward Jack. Suddenly, with speed and agility that should not have been possible for someone as inebriated as Jack obviously was, Jack darted off into the alley a few yards away.

“Jack!” Mark called out, immediately running after his friend, not even casting a glance back at the rest of the group. Mark rounded the corner into the darker alley and cocked his head to the side. “Jack…” he murmured, barely able to make out the thin silhouette of his friend facing the wall. “Hey, buddy, are you – “

Mark’s question was interrupted and forgotten at the sound of Jack retching, and suddenly Jack was bent nearly double, throwing up and supporting himself on shaky arms held against the brick wall. “Jack,” Mark frowned, making his way toward the male once the retching noise had stopped and Jack seemed to be catching his breath.

“Mark,” Jack murmured, leaning closer to the body next to him. Mark wasn’t sure if it was voluntary or not, but he took the moment to make sure that Jack wasn’t going to fall over.

“I’m right here,” Mark promised softly, rubbing Jack’s back comfortingly. “Let’s get you back to the hotel, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jack croaked sadly. This time Jack had no problem with Mark holding onto his arm, and as they rounded the corner to head back toward the group, everyone was giving them knowing looks. “They’re all lookin’ at me,” Jack slurred quietly, the statement turning more into a whine than anything.

“They’re just worried about ya,” Mark insisted as they approached their worried friends. “Let’s get going, guys,” he addressed the group, who all just offered quick words of encouragement to Jack before they made their way back to the hotel. Before too long everyone was in the elevator, getting off on their respective floors, Jack and Mark luckily only having to go up to the third floor before Jack limped off.

Mark felt awful for him. In the few minutes it had taken them to walk the last of the way to the hotel, Jack had become much worse for wear. He was hunched over on himself, arms wrapped miserably around his chest as he shivered. More often than not the green-haired man was slumped against Mark, leaving Mark to wrap a worried arm around his waist.

Finally though, Mark opened the hotel room door and ushered Jack in, and the boy went straight into the bathroom, where he slumped against the wall and curled up with his head on his knees. “Oh man, what happened to you?” Mark murmured.

“The waitress was so nice,” Jack mumbled into his knees. “She just kept bringing drinks and I couldn’t say no. And then I didn’t think the drinks were that strong.”

“Jack, you did like three shots with Felix in the last hour.”

“Yeah, but they were small,” Jack’s voice was wavering and growing even less confident than it had been before, which was saying quite a bit. Mark just sighed and nodded, running his hand through his hair before looking around.

“Alright, you stay here,” Mark’s voice was calm and low, and it made Jack’s throbbing head just the slight bit less painful. “I’m going to grab you some comfy clothes and then we’ll get you cleaned up and in bed.”

“Okay,” Jack croaked, peeking up at Mark with the most innocent eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Mark insisted gently, patting Jack’s knee before standing. “You sit tight.”

“I couldn’t go anywhere if I tried,” Jack moaned to Mark’s retreating figure. Mark rolled his eyes as he made his way to Jack’s suitcase, scoffing a bit at the absolute disaster that the entire area _around_ his suitcase was, not to mention the suitcase as a whole.

“I…I’m not even going to try to look through all of that,” he mumbled, shaking his head and instead going to his own suitcase, where he pulled out the hoodie he’d worn on the plane into Miami. When Mark made his way back into the bathroom, Jack was exactly where Mark had left him, except now slumped over against the bath tub. “Alright, buddy, let’s get you up.”

“Are you mad at me?” Jack whispered sadly, looking up at Mark. Mark stopped in his tracks and sighed, cocking his head to the side in disbelief. Had Jack slipped in the few moments Mark had been gone? He only hesitated for a moment to try to figure it out.

But that was all it took for Jack, who had most definitely slipped, to panic. “You’re mad!” he cried, bursting into tears and burying his face in his knees again.

“No, no, no, Jack. That’s not…I’m not mad, oh god, Jack, please don’t cry,” Mark begged, immediately placing the hoodie on the bathroom counter and kneeling in front of his distraught friend.

 “I’m sorry!” Jack whined into his legs, body wracking with sobs. “I’m sorry!” Mark looked on helplessly, then set his hands atop Jack’s shaky shoulders.

“Jack,” Mark said evenly, even a bit sternly. “Look at me, please.” Teary eyes finally managed to appear from behind Jack’s knees, and Mark smiled softly, moving his hands carefully down Jack’s arms until Mark had Jack’s wrists captured in his larger hands. “It’s okay. I’m not mad,” he promised, his thumb smoothing over the edge of Jack’s wrists. “Okay? Just calm down for me and stop crying – you’re going to make yourself feel worse.”

“I already feel so bad, Mark,” Jack whimpered miserably, one more last sob slipping past his lips as he sniffled loudly. “My head hurts and my tummy aches.”

“Well then, that’s why I’m here. I’m going to help you stand very carefully and then I’m going to make sure you get your teeth brushed and all that good stuff before we put you in bed.” Mark made sure to keep his voice even and soft, because that was what Jack seemed to respond to best. After Mark was sure Jack had a moment to process everything he’d said, Mark stood and offered his hand to Jack. “Can you stand up for me, please?”

Shakily Jack reached out and helped Mark pull him up, feeling as if he’d fall the second Mark let go, which led to Jack clutching to Mark’s arm as hard as he could (which, in his state, wasn’t much). “That’s a good boy,” Mark cooed, shuffling over toward the counter until Jack reached out and supported himself on the granite counter top. “Let’s get your pants off, then I’ll get you up onto the counter so I can clean up your leg.”

Jack just blinked at Mark and nodded, looking down to his waist and swatting uselessly at his belt. Mark just quietly waited, feeling awkward. It took far too long, but Jack finally got his pants down and then held his arms up to the other. Mark smirked and gently lifted Jack up, setting him down just as carefully. “Do you think you can handle brushing your teeth while I clean you up?”

“Okay,” Jack nodded, his thumb nervously moving toward his mouth. Mark helpfully got Jack’s toothbrush wet and handed it to Jack before squeezing out some of the paste onto the bristles of the brush and nodding to the other.

“Alright, sit tight,” Mark instructed. Jack obeyed, tiredly passing the toothbrush over his teeth while watching the top of Mark’s head. After what seemed like forever to the wasted boy, Mark stood and moved to wash his hands. “Finish brushing and we’ll get you into bed,” Mark told him, helping Jack down from the counter and putting him in front of the sink.

Finally, Jack was ready for bed and turned back to Mark, not even attempting to move on his own more than to lean into Mark’s chest and whine loudly. “Come on, Jacky,” Mark murmured, wrapping his arms around Jack and lifting him up. “It’s way past bedtime for you. You need to sleep this off.”

Jack made a sound that sounded slightly like an agreement, so Mark settled the other against his chest, one arm behind Jack’s shoulders and the other beneath his knees. “You’re impossibly light,” Mark mentioned to himself as he made his way into the bedroom and laid Jack on the bed. “Do you want anything before you go to sleep?” he wondered, already planning on putting some Tylenol and a bottle of water on the night stand.

“Want Benny,” Jack mumbled as he rubbed his cheek against the pillow. Mark furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before it suddenly clicked.

“He’s your teddy bear?” he confirmed, to which Jack nodded the slightest bit. As Mark realized this meant he would have to brave Jack’s disaster area he called a suitcase, he sighed quietly and turned toward the pile in the corner, crouching in front of it and beginning to sort through the articles of clothing.

Way at the bottom of the pile Mark found both the bear and the small green blanket. Deciding to just give Jack both, Mark grabbed the corner of the blanket and tugged it up, eyes widening a bit as a pacifier unraveled itself from the bunched up material. Mark was frozen, even though in his mind he knew that was a ridiculous reaction. There was no reason to feel so damn uncomfortable (and maybe a little frightened) of the piece of plastic, but here he was, frozen in his spot.

From the bed, Jack whined and began to move like he was going to sit up, so Mark quickly pushed himself to a standing position, grabbing the pacifier as he did so. “Alright, Mr. Cranky Pants, just relax,” Mark clicked his tongue as he made his way back to Jack. Carefully, Mark sat at the edge of the bed and held out the teddy bear to Jack.

The green-haired boy’s eyes lit up for a second as he grabbed at the animal and snuggled back into the comforter. “This is yours too,” Mark stated, holding out the small blanket. Jack’s cheeks tinged pink a bit as he took the satin item in his other hand, curling in on himself.

Mark watched Jack for a moment, seriously contemplating his next move. Finally, with a deep breath, Mark held up the pacifier in front of Jack’s mouth. “Here you go, little one,” he suggested, tapping Jack’s closed lips with the rubber of the item.

Jack’s eyes shot open wide, looking shocked and a little scared. He opened his mouth, and Mark gave Jack a moment to argue before making the decision to pop the pacifier in Jack’s mouth. “It’s okay,” Mark promised gently, his hand moving up to card its way through Jack’s hair. “You’re alright,” he repeated softly until Jack closed his eyes, the pacifier bobbing at his mouth. And Mark stayed there until he knew Jack was asleep, watching the boy closely. And he didn’t stop promising Jack that it was okay until Mark stood to get himself ready for bed, wondering when on earth this had started to feel almost normal. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get to you guys! But I hope you enjoy it!! Let me know what ya think!

When Jack awoke the next morning, he felt as if his head was in the clouds. Everything was foggy and fuzzy and he had to squint to make anything in his line of vision focus. He could see sunlight streaming though the closed curtains of the window though, so he knew it was already morning.

After taking a moment to get his bearings, Jack moved to sit up. When he did this, he noticed two things: one, his head hurt _a lot_ , and two, something was caught underneath his hand, hard plastic digging into the heel of his hand as he supported himself in the upright position.

Groaning, Jack shifted his center of gravity so that he could pick up whatever was beneath his hand. Immediately after his fingers surrounded the object, he gasped and could feel his cheeks turning red. When had his pacifier gotten into the bed?!

Immediately, Jack spun his head to the other bed in the room, where Mark was still splayed out, fast asleep. Feeling as if he was going to overheat of embarrassment, Jack shoved the pacifier beneath his pillow before trying to stand.

The boy pushed off from the bed to a standing position, looking down for the first time and realizing he was wearing no more than boxers and one of Mark’s hoodies. The hoodie was far too big on his slim frame, covering Jack from shoulders to mid-thigh, the arms of the hoodie extending far past his fingertips. Immediately after this realization, another fact hit Jack head on.

He did _not_ feel well. His head was pounding and his mouth was dry, and his stomach was churning dangerously. He tried to stumble backwards onto his own bed, but managed instead to fall forward, catching himself on the edge of Mark’s bed. Jack barely had the energy to crawl up the rest of the way onto Mark’s bed, curling up on the edge of the mattress, close to but not touching Mark’s extended arm. Jack closed his eyes, and somewhere along the way, his miserableness faded to the back of his mind as he fell asleep once more.

The duo stayed this way until Mark woke up nearly an hour later, eyes fluttering open to be met immediately with tufts of green, tousled hair. “Jack?” he murmured, running his hand across his face as he tried to wake up more.

His comatose friend didn’t reply at all, so Mark sat up and looked at the clock. It was nearly 10 AM, which gave them about two hours before they had to be at the airport.

Looking around the room, Mark carefully stood and made his way to the bathroom to wash his face and take a fast shower. After he’d spent way too long under the hot spray of the shower to wake up, Mark got dressed and began to pack away all his things, using Jack’s empty bed to put all of his things on. At the top of the bed was Jack’s discarded teddy bear, blanket, and pacifier, so Mark piled them at the foot of Jack’s bed.

The red head tried to be as quiet as possible as he packed, and was fairly successful too, until he dropped his laptop charger to the floor. Mark froze and looked over to where Jack was, expecting to see the other waking or shifting in his sleep. To his surprise, Jack was already awake, blinking innocently as he watched the other. “Good morning,” Mark said gently. “Didn’t know you were awake.”

“My head hurts,” Jack mumbled in lieu of a reply. “And I’m hungry.”

“You’re pretty hung over aren’t ya,” Mark chuckled softly, making his way toward the other. Jack just pouted and nodded a bit before closing his eyes again while Mark crouched beside the bed. “Here, drink something and take these pills. It’ll help,” Mark promised.

“Okay,” Jack agreed sadly, pushing himself up on his shaky arms and taking the offered medicine from his friend. “Are you done packing?”

“Just about,” Mark nodded. Simultaneously, both men cast a glance over at Jack’s still overflowing suitcase. Jack groaned and flopped back on the bed, immediately cradling his head in his hands.

“I should _not_ have moved that fast,” Jack whimpered.

“Would you like some help?” Mark offered. Jack peeked at Mark through his fingers and grinned the most innocent grin. “Okay, only because you act so nicely,” he scoffed sarcastically.

“Please,” Jack added before curling back up under the sheets. “Mark?”

“Yeah?” Mark replied gently as he crouched down beside Jack’s suitcase.

“I’m…I’m not sure how I’m feeling right now,” Jack admitted, watching as his friend began to unpack Jack’s suitcase.

“I’d bet money on the word ‘hungover’,” Mark chuckled. Jack’s cheeks tinged pink and he mumbled something so unintelligible that Mark turned to glance over his shoulder at the other. “What was that?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Jack mumbled again, casting a glance at the other bed where he’d discarded his teddy bear and other things earlier. Mark hardly hesitated before he scooted himself a bit closer to the beds and reached out to grab the comfort item.

“That’s okay,” Mark promised, offering the teddy bear to Jack easily. Jack’s hand snaked out from underneath the covers, cautiously taking the bear.

“Thank you,” Jack whispered. He snuggled back deeper into the covers, and Mark scoffed. Jack’s eyes widened, and immediately Mark realized the other thought he was being laughed at.

“No no no, Jack, don’t worry about it,” Mark promised immediately. “I’m just laughing because I’ve realized you’re not getting out of bed which means I’ll be doing all your packing,” he chuckled. Jack still didn’t look convinced, and Mark frowned before reaching out to pat Jack’s side. “Trust me. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think I was laughing at you.”

“You promise?” Jack sounded so unsure that Mark felt bad about chuckling in the first place.

“I promise,” Mark replied honestly, standing carefully. “Now you just lay there and I’ll take care of the packing. Deal?”

Jack seemed to contemplate arguing with Mark for just a moment, but then he nodded and curled up even tighter. “You just try feel better so that we can go to the airport soon,” Mark insisted. Jack immediately groaned.

“That’s not going to feel nice,” he whimpered with the smallest voice, causing Mark to smile sympathetically.

“I’ll make sure it’s all okay,” Mark promised, ruffling Jack’s hair before turning to the suitcase still on the floor. By the time he turned back around, Jack was already dozing off once more. “That didn’t take much convincing,” Mark murmured to himself before upending the suitcase onto the bed.

Sometimes starting over completely was easier than trying to fix what was already there.

~*~*~

An hour and a half later found Mark sitting on the edge of what used to be Jack’s bed scrolling through Twitter, both suitcases packed and by the door. Sighing, Mark realized that if they had any hope of getting to the airport on time, he needed to wake Jack.

“Hey, Jack, time to wake up, man,” Mark murmured. Jack finally opened his eyes after a few moments of gentle shaking, and he groaned.

“I don’t want to,” he whined. Mark smiled sympathetically.

“I know, but we have to catch a flight. Remember? We’re going to L.A.,” Mark smiled. Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes as he sat up slowly, cradling his head in his hands. “There’s my Jack,” Mark praised gently, and Jack smiled at the statement. “Here, I laid some clothes out for you in the bathroom. Start getting ready and whenever you’re ready I’ll clean your leg for you.”

“Okay,” Jack nodded, finally managing to stand and shuffle toward the bathroom. Mark watched him go, and then picked up the discarded teddy bear from the crumpled sheets. Grabbing Jack’s suitcase and tossing it up onto the bed, Mark put the teddy bear on top and waited for Jack to call for him.

Twenty minutes later, the duo was making their way down to the hotel front desk to check out, and Mark offered to get the car so that Jack could sit and wait with the luggage. Jack easily agreed to this, and flopped onto the couch he was nearest to while Mark chuckled and headed outside with his keys in hand.

Jack still was really not feeling well. This hangover was kicking him right in the ass, and he’d already vowed to himself three times this morning alone that he would never get this drunk again. Everything hurt – his head was pounding, his throat was scratchy and dry, and his stomach wouldn’t stop churning precariously. Literally nothing sounded less appealing to the poor boy than getting on a giant metal tube that was going to hurl itself through the sky.

Jack saw Mark climbing out of the rental car right outside the front door, so Jack pulled himself to a standing position and grabbed his suitcase, shouldering his backpack as well. “I would’ve gotten that,” Mark responded.

“I got it,” Jack promised, following Mark out the door. As Mark was busy putting his own suitcase in the trunk of the rental car, he heard another suitcase clatter to the ground and Jack’s quiet gasp followed by “oh no”.

Mark dropped his suitcase in the trunk and turned to see Jack standing sadly in the doorway to the hotel, staring at the suitcase at his feet. It had obviously gotten caught on the track of the automatic door and gotten stuck, pulling it from his hand and causing it to crash to the ground. Jack looked both startled and sad, and Mark’s immediate reaction was to coo at the other. “Aw, hey now. It’s okay, I got it,” Mark promised, patting Jack’s shoulder before leaning down to grab the offending suitcase.

“I dropped it,” Jack mumbled sadly, rubbing at his eyes. “I sorry, Mark.” The way Jack spoke made Mark want to stop in his tracks, because he sounded exactly like a child. But instead he just smiled sweetly and continued toward the car once more with Jack’s luggage in tow.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mark promised. “It’s okay. I just want you to go ahead and climb in the car and buckle up.”

Jack obeyed immediately, dropping his backpack in the footwell of the car before climbing in and clicking his seatbelt into place. He curled up in the seat immediately to try and block the sunlight from his eyes.

“Poor thing,” Mark commented as he fell into the driver’s seat. “Need some sunglasses?” He offered, pulling his own shades off his face. Normally, Jack would refuse, say he was fine, but today he just held his hands out to take the offered glasses. Jack slid them onto his face and Mark could practically see him relax into the seat more.

“Today’s going to be hell,” Jack moaned quietly, rubbing at his temples sadly. “Oh god, I’m so thirsty.”

“We’ll get you some water at the airport,” Mark told him softly. “Just try and relax, okay?”

“Okay,” Jack mumbled. “Mark?” he continued after a moment.

“Yes, Jack?”

“Thank you for taking care of me.” Jack’s voice was soft and a little unsure, so Mark made sure to smile over at the other and pat his arm.

“Anytime. It’s what I’m here for,” Mark replied before letting the car fall into a comfortable silence.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody...sorry for going AWOL! Things happened and the school semester got away from me and then suddenly we were here LOL. But thanks so much for sticking around, and here's a chapter I put together as an apology! Please enjoy, and as always, let me know if there's something you want to see in the story!

Somewhere between the hotel and the airport, Jack managed to doze off in the chair, face squished against the head rest. Mark wasn’t sure if that would make things better or worse in the near future, but he let it go and decided they’d deal with the repercussions later.

Luckily for Mark, Jack woke himself up as Mark was in the process of searching for a parking spot in the busy rental car parking garage. Jack groaned as he sat up in his seat, rubbing his eyes with closed fists. “You awake now?” Mark chuckled. “Because we’re about to brave the airport.”

“I guess,” Jack sighed. “I’m still thirsty,” he informed Mark.

“Okay,” Mark nodded. “We’ll get you a drink once we make it through security.”

“Why not before?” Jack pouted, and Mark just smiled.

“Because if we get it before you’ll have to throw it before we go through security, then we’ll just have to buy another one.”

“Oh okay,” Jack nodded in understanding. He climbed out of the car and let Mark unload the trunk before taking his luggage.

“You sure you’ve got it?” Mark asked, and Jack nodded, following Mark as they submerged themselves in the business of the airport.

~*~*~

Nearly an hour later found the men falling into their seats on the plane, Mark absolutely exhausted and Jack absolutely irritated. Jack had a water bottle in his hand while Mark held two bags of donuts. “I want,” Jack whined, already reaching for the food in Mark’s hand.

Mark rolled his eyes and pushed the bag toward his friend, who was acting no more than maybe four years old. Mark was beginning to get a little testy with his immature friend, but was trying to hide it so as not to make Jack feel bad. “Take this but be careful with it, we don’t need crumbs all over the place,” he stated. “And make sure to buckle in.”

“I did!” Jack chirped excitedly, the paper bag in his hand crinkling as he dug into the bag and pulled out a donut covered in chocolate icing. Mark nodded and settled into his own seat, thinking maybe he would have a minute to just get comfortable before Jack needed something else. Although Mark was a little irritated at the way Jack was acting at the moment, he found himself also enamored with the man in such an innocent state. It was a different side to Jack, but it felt almost _right_ just because Jack’s personality was always somewhat childish. This just seemed to be an extension of that.

Mark was happy to take care of him if that was what Jack needed, because Mark truly did care for Jack. He would do anything for the green-haired male, Mark realized. Anything that – “Mark?” Jack’s voice interrupted Mark’s train of thought and Mark blinked heavily, realizing he’d been staring at Jack the whole time.

“Yeah, bud? What’s up?”

“Can we turn a movie on?” Jack asked through a mouthful of donut. “I want to watch a movie.”

“Sure,” Mark laughed, leaning forward to grab his laptop from his bag. “What are you in the mood for?”

“I kinda wanna watch The Incredibles,” Jack murmured, eyes darting off to the side shyly. Mark smiled and opened his laptop, clicking through the movie subscription service he had. “Is that okay with you?” Jack asked suddenly, and Mark nodded immediately.

“I love The Incredibles,” Mark promised as they settled comfortably into their seats and moved the laptop so they could both see. By the time the plane took off and had found its place in the sky, Mark and Jack were enveloped in the world of the Incredible family and Frozone trying to find his super suit.

Jack was sleepy and he just couldn’t make himself shake it. Usually planes were super uncomfortable for Jack, the circulating air leaving his skin dry and himself feeling dehydrated, usually the seats were uncomfortable and cramped, but today he was warm beneath the blanket draped over his body, his water bottle sat beside him almost empty, and Jack would venture to say this was the most comfortable plane ride he’d been on.

Without really thinking about it, Jack pulled his legs to his chest and hugged them tightly, resting his head on Mark’s arm. For a second Jack felt awkward and like he needed to ask Mark if this was okay, but then Jack realized that if Mark was okay with some of the stuff he’d seen in the past two days, sleeping on his shoulder was nothing. So Jack closed his eyes and let himself doze off.

“ _Oh my God, you’ve gotten fat! Come in, come, come!_ ” this scene always made Mark giggle like a mad man, so when Jack didn’t react, Mark looked down in concern, a smile gracing his face when he saw the boy fast asleep on his shoulder. Mark hoped that Jack would feel better when he woke up, so he just let the boy slumber.

Mark wasted away the flight time by watching the remainder of the movie, though partway through it he fell asleep as well. He jerked back into consciousness though at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, looking up at the flight attendant who smiled apologetically.

“We’re landing soon, sir. I need your trays put away and your seats up,” she said softly. Mark nodded and rubbed his eyes from underneath his glasses.

“Will do. Thanks,” he replied. Looking over at Jack, Mark patted the green-eyed man’s knee until Jack’s face scrunched up and he opened his eyes, lifting his head from Mark’s shoulder. “Hey, bud, sorry,” Mark whispered. “The plane’s going to land soon.”

“My head hurts,” Jack mumbled. “Do we have any water?”

“Right here,” Mark nodded, shaking the water bottle in front of Jack’s face. Jack took it quickly and sipped at it as he looked out the window at the clouds. “How are you feeling aside from your head?”

“I’m okay,” Jack nodded. “Not as bad as I thought I’d feel.”

“That’s good,” Mark replied. “We have about an hour to spend in the airport before our next flight takes off. So that gives us a chance to find some food and get to the next gate.” Jack nodded quietly and settled in his seat to wait for landing.

The last of the plane ride consisted of Mark making sure all their belongings were packed up while Jack tried to help but ultimately just held Mark’s laptop and the blankets given to them when they’d gotten onto the plane. “Can we get something to eat when we get off the plane?” Jack wondered.

“Sure. What do you feel like eating?” Mark wondered.

“Just like a sandwich or something,” Jack murmured. “I really want a grilled cheese sandwich.”

“I’ll see what I can find when we land,” Mark told Jack, who just nodded. Like he’d promised, Mark managed to find a Subway after the plane landed and pretty soon Jack was curled up in a seat with a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of Sprite while Mark ate a cup of soup.

“Did they have any cookies?” Jack wondered through a mouthful of his sandwich, and Mark chuckled.

“I think so. We can get one on the way to the gate to board the next plane, how does that sound?” he replied. Jack seemed to think the proposition over, and then he nodded.

“That sounds good.” With that, the two men lapsed back into silence while Mark talked to fans on Twitter while Jack curled up to block the light from his sensitive eyes. Before Mark knew it, their hour was up and their flight was announced as boarding.

“Oh, shit. Jack, we’ve got to get moving,” Mark told him, shaking the other’s leg. Jack moaned but sat up, pouting. “Come on, we don’t want to miss the flight!” he continued.

“I want a cookie,” Jack reminded Mark as he stood up from his curled-up position. Immediately, Jack groaned and held his head in his hands for a moment. “Never mind, I’m too dizzy,” he mumbled. Mark frowned and stepped closer to support the boy in case he fell.

“I can’t wait until we’re back in LA and I can just put you on the couch,” Mark commented offhandedly as they made their way through the terminal to their gate. “I’m not worried about you passing out on the couch.”

“I’m not going to pass out,” Jack huffed, and he pouted up at the other. Mark smiled and shook his head as they made their way onto the plane.

“Of course you’re not,” Mark tried his hardest not to roll his eyes as they settled in their seat. “Now go ahead and rest. Your part of work is over.”

“I did good?” Jack asked, and Mark found himself not at all shocked by the man’s young-sounding voice.

“You did great,” Mark promised with a smile. “Next time we land, we’ll be on our way to my house.”

“I can’t wait to play with Chica,” Jack murmured as he settled in the seat, his head resting against Mark’s shoulder.

“I know she can’t wait to play with you either,” Mark commented, quickly pressing a kiss to the top of Jack’s head before he froze, realizing what he’d done. _Maybe Jack didn’t notice,_ he thought to himself.

No such luck, though. Just a moment later Jack tilted his head up so he could open one eye to look at Mark. “Did you just kiss me?” he giggled, and Mark felt relief wash over him as he thought that Jack sounded awfully Little. Before the red-haired man could explain himself, Jack settled closer against Mark and sighed. “Goodnight, Mark,” he mumbled happily.

“Sleep well,” Mark whispered back, watching as the Irishman relaxed into sleep. Still refreshed from his nap on the earlier flight, Mark pulled out his laptop, rolling his eyes as he reluctantly paid the fee for the in-flight Wi-Fi.

With one more glance at Jack to make sure he was still sleeping, Mark opened his search engine and typed in _How to care for a little_ , nibbling his lip a bit nervously before pressing the search button. If Mark was going to do this, he was going to do it right.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! This is the beginning of Mark and Jack's LA Adventure!! xx As always, suggestions are welcome!

When the plane landed, Jack was beside himself with excitement. When Mark finally found his car parked in the lot and loaded their bags, Jack was quiet. Mark didn’t pay it too much mind. However, when they arrived at Mark’s place, Jack was visibly nervous. “What’s wrong?” Mark asked as the taxi pulled onto his street.

“What if Tyler finds out?” Jack wondered quietly. Mark turned to him and smiled softly.

“He’s gone for another two days,” Mark reminded Jack. “So you’ve got that. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you except for that Tyler’s one of the nicest people on the planet. He won’t care, Jack.”

“I know that,” Jack sighed. “It just…really makes me nervous.”

“I know,” Mark smiled sympathetically after parking the car. “But you don’t have to worry about that tonight. Come on, I’m sure Chica is beside herself right now after hearing the garage door,” he laughed.

At the mention of the pup’s name, Jack lit up and scrambled for his seat belt. “Yeah!” he agreed. “I want to see Chica!” His voice was high pitched and excited, making it obvious to Mark that the boy had already gone into his Little space. Jack was too busy unbuckling to notice the moment of shock on Mark’s face, which was probably a good thing. Mark was still one hundred percent okay with all of this, it was just weird to see Jack’s demeanor change so quickly.

But Mark just rolled with it, so he climbed out of his seat and then waited at the door to the house for Jack to follow. “She’s going to be super excited so be careful and don’t let her knock you over.”

“Okay,” Jack nodded seriously. He stood behind Mark as the taller man opened the door, and Chica’s excited whining became barking the moment she saw her owner.

“Hi, pretty girl!” Mark cooed, leaning down to pet her. “Sit down, babe. Sit down, it’s okay! Yeah, I know you’re excited! Yeah, that’s my girl,” he laughed. “I brought you a friend!” Mark continued to talk to Chica until she managed to sit her excited self down, tail thumping against the floor loudly. After Jack was sure Chica was sitting, he wiggled between Mark and the doorway, gasping happily at the sight of the pup.

“Hi Chica!” he exclaimed, immediately crouching beside the dog and beginning to pet her. Chica yelped excitedly and turned to nuzzle her face into Jack’s chest, excited to see her friend. Jack giggled as he lost his balance from his crouched position and fell back onto his butt with a loud thump. Chica immediately climbed into his lap and licked at Jack’s face, whining and whimpering happily.

Mark stood back and sneakily took out his phone, recording the interaction between his best friend and dog. After a few moments, Jack looked up at Mark and grinned the biggest grin he could muster. “Best hangover cure ever!” he exclaimed, and Mark laughed before he pocketed his phone.

“You think? Alright, let’s get her outside so she can run around and so we can get all our luggage inside,” Mark suggested, and Jack nodded somewhat reluctantly. “Aw, don’t get sad,” Mark laughed. “It’s not like you’re not going to see her again!”

“I know,” Jack sighed as he watched Chica follow Mark to the back door. “But she’s so cuddly.” Mark let her outside then turned back to Jack and offered his hand to help the other stand from the floor.

“So I take it you’re feeling a bit better?” Mark asked, and Jack nodded, dusting the dog hair off his shirt. “Good. I want you to drink some more water though, just to be on the safe side.” After Mark got a nod in reply, he headed back into the garage to get their luggage. “You remember where your room is?” Mark asked Jack, who looked up from where he was digging through his backpack and nodded with a smile.

“Can Chica sleep in there with me?” Jack asked shyly.

“We’ll see,” Mark relented, grabbing his own bags. “Come on, let’s get these inside.” Jack led the way back into the house, the green-haired man carefully taking the stairs to the second floor with his hands full of bags. He dropped them outside the door to his room and opened the door, glancing over his shoulder at Mark. “Go ahead,” Mark nodded. “Get settled and I’ll come grab you in a bit, okay?”

“Okay,” Jack nodded, using his foot to nudge the first bag through the doorway.

“Do you need help?” Mark’s voice was soft. Jack paused for a moment, contemplating. Then he shook his head, turning around to look at Mark.

“I think I’m good. Thanks, though,” he replied, and Mark nodded back.

“Alright. Call me if you need me,” the man said before disappearing into his own room. Jack turned back around to his room to look around before he started to unpack, putting all his clothes in the closet and dresser drawers. Once he was alone, Jack thought back over the last few days. Between hurting his leg and Mark finding out the single-handedly biggest secret he had, and meeting everyone at the convention, Jack was _tired_. But he also realized that he wasn’t unhappy – the fear and uneasiness he felt when thinking about Mark knowing about his little side had disappeared.

It didn’t take long for Jack to get all his things put away, and then he sat cross-legged on the bed with Benny hugged to his chest, looking at his phone. The time passed quickly though Jack didn’t notice it, and it wasn’t until Mark cleared his throat from the doorway that Jack looked up and smiled sheepishly. “How long have you been there?” he asked.

“Just a few minutes,” Mark laughed. “What’s so interesting on there anyway?”

“I was just on Twitter,” Jack replied, putting his phone down and standing up off the bed, Benny still gripped loosely in one arm. Mark watched Jack move toward the door, trying to piece together exactly what kind of mindset Jack was in at that moment. “What?” Jack frowned, and Mark immediately shook his head.

“Nothing, just thinking,” he insisted before gesturing to the other. “Come on, we can go downstairs and figure out what to do for dinner and what we’ll do the rest of the evening.” Jack nodded and waited for Mark to start walking, then he followed behind him.

“Can we play a game tonight?” Jack asked as they headed down the stairs. “Like a board game?”

“I don’t see why not,” Mark smiled. “We need to get out at least once more to get some food – I don’t have any food here since I was traveling,” he laughed. “So maybe we can go pick something up or order pizza and play a few games?”

“Ooh, pizza,” Jack hummed excitedly, nodding. “That sounds like a lot of fun!”

“That was easy,” Mark laughed. “What kind of pizza do you want?”

“Just cheese,” Jack replied immediately. “And breadsticks!” His face lit up in an elated grin, and Mark couldn’t help but mirror the smile.

“You got it,” Mark nodded. “I’ll get right on that.”

“Can I take a shower while we wait for pizza?” Jack asked shyly. Mark immediately nodded and turned to look at Jack.

“Of course, bud. Make yourself at home,” he replied. “Want me to get a towel and stuff for you?” he offered.

“Yes, please,” Jack smiled innocently. Mark nodded and turned to go back up the stairs, happy to help his friend.

~*~*~

Fast forward about thirty minutes and Mark was laying down a couple boxes of pizza and Jack was sitting on his knees in the living room setting up a game of Monopoly. When Mark entered the living room with two plates of pizza, Jack was finishing up dishing out money to himself and Mark. Mark just watched him and smiled at the sight of Jack in a hoodie and some plaid pajama pants, his wet hair hanging in his face.

“I got it all ready!” Jack exclaimed, turning to look at Mark proudly. “What piece did you want?” he asked.

“Well let’s see, which piece did you choose?” Mark wondered.

“I got the puppy,” Jack grinned.

“Good choice! Give me the car,” Mark replied as he sat down opposite Jack, putting a plate of pizza in front of the green-haired boy. “Are you going first?”

“No, you can!” Jack offered with a big grin, picking up his pizza. Mark picked up the dice and nodded.

“That’s very nice of you, Jack,” he complimented. The game took off after that, Jack a giggly, happy boy throughout the beginning part of the game. But everyone knows that Monopoly is a long game, and after about an hour, it became apparent that Jack was slightly irritated, tired, and probably still quite a bit hungover.  

“Maybe we should pause this for tonight,” Mark suggested. “Finish playing it tomorrow. We need to get some sleep.”

“I don’t wanna,” Jack whined. “I wanna finish the game!” he insisted.

“Jack, I’m tired and I know you are too,” Mark laughed. “Come on, we don’t even have to put it away. We can leave it right here and play tomorrow.” Jack looked skeptical, pouting at the game board and up to Mark and back at the game. Mark just sat patiently, looking at Jack.

“Fine,” Jack sighed before he looked up at Mark with sad eyes. “But can we watch a movie?”

Mark wanted to say no, dude, it’s time for bed and I am so extremely tired, but Mark made the mistake of looking at Jack’s innocently sweet face for just a second too long and he caved. “Sure,” he relented. “Just one!” he insisted.

“Okay!” Jack chirped, scrambling across the living room floor on his knees to Mark’s entertainment center to look at his DVDs.

“You’re all ready for bed?” Mark asked, to which Jack nodded distractedly.  “Alright, I’m going to go get ready for bed while you choose something then.” He waited for Jack to nod again, then Mark headed up the stairs to change into pajamas.

When he returned downstairs, Jack was already curled up on the couch in a blanket and the DVD case for the SpongeBob Movie was sitting on the coffee table. “Good movie,” Mark laughed, pulling his hands out from behind his back to reveal Benny, Jack’s green blanket, and the pacifier. “Did you want these?”

Jack nodded without any hesitation and held out his hands for the items, and Mark smiled as he handed them to the smaller boy before setting up the movie. By the time Mark turned back around, Jack had curled back up with Benny’s head poking out from above the blanket and tucked under Jack’s chin, and the pacifier was bobbing at his lips. “You ready?” Mark asked.

Jack just nodded, watching Mark as the other plopped onto the couch. No sooner had Mark pulled his arm up on the back of the couch to reach for the remote, than did Jack lean against Mark’s side. “Hey, bud,” Mark greeted softly. “You comfy?” he chuckled.

“Mmhmm.” So Mark started the movie, draping his arm over Jack’s shoulder as the movie began to play. Mark was _exhausted_ from the trip, and it wasn’t long before the red-haired man’s head was bobbing down toward his chest and back up again trying to stay awake. Jack wasn’t much better off, his weight slowly getting heavier and heavier against Mark.

Somewhere along the way Mark must have actually fallen asleep, because next thing he knew he was jolted awake by a heavy weight making its way into his lap. Looking down, Mark saw Jack curling up in Mark’s lap, his head leaning against Mark’s chest. “Well, hi,” Mark murmured sleepily.

“Hi,” Jack yawned, the pacifier falling from his mouth, and his statement was followed immediately by a loud whine.

“What?” Mark chuckled, reaching out from around Jack to grab the fallen piece and bringing it back up toward Jack’s mouth. Immediately the whining stopped and Jack hummed happily before letting his head thump back against Mark’s chest. “I see,” he murmured. “You getting sleepy yet?” he asked.

“A little,” Jack admitted, though Mark could see the boy was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Maybe we should head on up to bed then,” Mark suggested. This time Jack did not fight Mark, instead nodding and making to stand up. He hobbled toward the stairs, still wrapped in his blanket, then looked at the stairs and back at Mark with sad eyes.

Somehow, Mark knew exactly what he wanted. “I got you, bud,” Mark promised, scooping Jack up into his arms again and clumsily making is way up the stairs. Maybe a curse or two flew out of Mark’s mouth as he felt his balance shift and was afraid that he was about to send both of them stumbling down the staircase. But they made it to the top of the stairs with no major issues, and Mark carefully set Jack in the guest bed.

Jack quickly curled up beneath the covers and let out a happy sigh. “You all set for tonight?” Mark wondered. Jack nodded, snuggling deeper into the bed. “Okay,” Mark nodded. “Then I’ll leave you to it, but I’m right down the hall if you need me,” he offered.

“Thanks, Mark,” Jack’s voice was heavy with sleep. “See you tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Mark nodded, heading out the door. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Then he closed Jack’s door and yawned as he made his way to his own room. As Mark crawled into his bed and Chica curled up at his feet, Mark could only wonder what the next few days had in store for them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey, y'all! Sorry I don't have a new chapter for this just yet, but if you're looking for something else to read, I just started a new story called Our Little Family that a lot of you requested! So go check it out, and I'll have a new update for this story soon! Thanks for all the continued support!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient, y'all! A lot of irons in the fire right now in my world haha. So please enjoy, and let me know what you think!!

When Jack woke up in the morning, he was very confused at first. He remembered bits and pieces of yesterday as a whole, but it took him a minute or two to put together the fact that he was here, in L.A., in Mark’s house. Rolling over, Jack picked up his phone and saw it was almost ten in the morning, and then he stood up, still wrapped in the blanket.

Jack shuffled out of the room and looked down the hall. Mark’s room was dark, but he could hear the faint sounds of Mark talking from inside his recording room. Not wanting to interrupt, Jack went back into his bedroom and grabbed clothes for the day.

By the time Jack had taken a shower and gotten ready for the day he’d expected Mark to be done with his recording, but it was still in full swing from what Jack could hear. So he returned to his bedroom, slightly bored. Chica had joined him and was laying at the foot of the bed, tail thumping happily at the sight of Jack.

“Hi, Chica,” Jack cooed, sitting on the bed beside her and petting her. Just as he’d managed to pull up Netflix on his computer, he heard Mark’s door swing open, so Jack just stood up and poked his head out of the doorway. “Hey!”

“Well, look who’s joined the land of the living,” Mark laughed, running his hands through his hair to get rid of the dent left behind by his headphones. “How are you?”

“I’m booooored,” Jack huffed. “Let’s do something fun today.”

“What would you want to do?” Mark asked, heading downstairs and letting Jack follow him. “Did you want to stay around here? Go somewhere?” he wondered.

“Let’s go somewhere!” Jack sounded way excited, and Mark nodded. “Wait, can we go to the zoo?” he gasped. “Zoos are the best.”

“I haven’t been to the zoo in so long,” Mark replied, grinning. “Let’s go.”

Fast forward another fifteen minutes and the boys were in the car on the way to a coffee shop to grab something to drink for the ride to the zoo, and Mark was having the greatest time in the car with his best friend beside him, the two of them swapping stories about life that had happened since the last time they’d seen each other.

As they drove toward the edge of town where the zoo was, Jack found himself wavering in between mindsets, which irritated him a little bit. While he did enjoy the relaxation aspect of his little mindset, he really did want to enjoy being in L.A.

By the time they paid to get into the parking garage of the zoo, Jack had finished his coffee and was ready to get to the fun part. “I got the tickets,” Jack insisted as they made their way to the front gate. Mark opened his mouth to protest, but Jack cut him off. “No, I know for a fact you didn’t take money for the food the past few nights at the hotel so it’s my turn!” he told Mark.

“Fine,” Mark sighed. “Just this once.”

“We’ll see about that. I’m here awhile,” Jack laughed, taking the tickets from the automated booth and then heading to the gate so they could enter. As they walked up to the podium covered by a flimsy umbrella, the girl that was standing there with the most bored expression stood up straight and her jaw dropped.

“Oh, here we go,” Mark chuckled, having seen that look many times before. As the two of them approached with smiles on their faces, the girl looked around as if she couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Hi!” she gasped. “Oh my god, I cannot believe this is happening. I love your videos, you guys.”

“Hi,” Jack grinned. “Thanks! How are you?”

“I’m good, great, oh my god. My awful summer job just got a whole lot better,” she gasped. “Hi, I’m Anna.”

“Good to meet you, Anna,” Mark smiled. Anna looked like she was about to pass out, still looking pretty shocked that this was even happening.

“C-can we take a picture?” she asked, reaching for her pockets for a moment before her face fell. “I don’t have my phone,” she frowned. “It’s in the break room.” She sighed but then straightened up again. “I can take your tickets,” she said quietly.

“Here, come on, get in here,” Jack insisted, pulling out his phone. Anna gasped.

“Thank you,” she whispered, still sounding shocked. The three of them made their way into frame and Jack snapped the quick photo. “Oh my goodness, you’re too nice.”

“No problem,” Jack smiled, hugging her before he completely pulled away. “I’ll put this on Twitter for you later, okay?” Anna nodded slowly. Mark hugged her then laughed as Anna stood with her hands pressed to her cheeks.

“This is the best day of my life,” she gasped. She shook her head and held her hand out. “Okay, yeah, I’ll take your tickets and then you guys can head in,” she giggled. Jack grinned and handed her the tickets, and patted her on the back as the two of them walked through the turnstile to enter the zoo. “Have a good day!” she smiled at them as she handed back the ticket stubs. “And thank you, really. You guys literally just made my day and like, my entire life.”  

“Thank you so much,” Mark grinned. “Maybe we’ll see you later!”

“Okay,” Anna replied, sounding slightly in shock still. With that, both men walked off, Jack giggling as they got a little further away.

“She was so cute,” Jack commented as they stopped to pick up a map. “I love running into people when they don’t expect it,” he chuckled.

“It’s kind of the best,” Mark agreed as he unfolded the map and studied it. “Right, so it looks like this is all a big circle so if we just start in a direction we’ll eventually hit everything. So the real question is do we want to start with the aquarium portion or the elephants?”

“Elephants,” Jack said without hesitation. “Definitely the elephants.”

“Alright then,” Mark smiled, pointing off to the left. “Go that way.” The two of them headed off, ready to just spend the day looking at cute animals. What they realized early on was that Jack wanted to just watch the animals and move on, while Mark insisted on reading every. Single. Sign. They. Passed.

“Maaaaaaaaaark,” Jack whined. “Come on,”

“Hold on, Jack,” Mark mumbled. “I’m almost done.”

“Ugh,” Jack sighed. He stood beside Mark, strategically trying to stand so that Mark was blocking the majority of the sun that was beating down onto them. “It’s hot, Mark.”

“It is kind of warm,” Mark agreed, looking around. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Yes, please,” Jack moaned. “There’s lemonade over there,” he pointed out. “We should get that.”

“Oh should we?” Mark laughed. “At least you know what you want out of life,” he sighed as they made their way to the cart selling the drinks. Minutes later the two men had drinks in hand, and Jack was back to his happy, giggly self as they made their way through the exhibits.

It warmed Mark’s heart to see Jack so happy, especially knowing what kind of mood he’d been in just a few days prior. Maybe this meant that Jack could have a good, relaxing rest of his trip in L.A. and go home refreshed. Maybe it would be smooth sailing from here on out.

Silly Mark. The day had only just begun.


End file.
